This post was updated April 2 at 5:19 p.m.

The Bruins were down 4-1 with seven missed shots, but a burst of teamwork and six unanswered points flipped the score.

“We all just came together, and everything just clicked all at once,” said freshman utility Anna Pearson. “We were finding each other when we were open, and we were communicating a lot, which helped us see each other.”

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (16-4, 2-1 MPSF) defeated No. 4 Hawai’i (18-4, 5-0 Big West) at Spieker Aquatics Center on Sunday in front of friends, family and alumni. With a final score of 13-8, UCLA picked up goals from seven different scorers.

The Bruins struggled to find the back of the net in the first half, going down 2-0 early before trailing 4-1, but coach Adam Wright said he wasn’t concerned with the early deficit.

“We were getting wide-open looks and were hitting the bar,” Wright said. “But I was OK with that because our intensity was there, our purpose was there. It was just we were letting that affect our nerves to a certain degree.”

The Bruins had seven missed shots during that span that lasted until the final five minutes of the second quarter, but a pair of goals tightened the gap to one.

Falling behind early has been a common struggle for the Bruins this season. UCLA fell behind by three and two goals in the first quarter against then-No. 2 USC and then-No. 4 California, respectively, before losing by those same margins at the end of the games.

Graduate student utility Katrina Drake – who paced the Bruins with a hat trick off of seven shots – said the team didn’t let that faze them.

“We were down a lot, but for us, we felt good about it and knew that we would come back,” Drake said.

The game turned around for the Bruins, though, with a scoring streak that gave the blue and gold a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. A stretch of six consecutive goals saw five different players dent the twine, along with two blocks and two saves from redshirt senior goalkeeper Georgia Phillips.

Pearson – who Wright called a strong post player – notched a brace on the 6-on-5, achieving the Bruins’ only two conversions on 13 power plays.

“I’ve just been doing a lot of reps in practice,” Pearson said of her work on the powerplay. “Making those connections with my teammates, so we know where everyone likes the ball.”

The Bruins will have a tight turnaround to implement what they learned against Hawai’i in time to face Fresno State on Thursday, again at Spieker Aquatics Center. Wright said that defense, as well as the counterattack, will continue to be a focus for their season.

“We’re building on what we’ve been working on the last three weeks and our structure and our counter and our defense and our communication and our confidence,” Wright said. “And all those things have been going in a great way, and we just got to keep pushing forward.”