This post was updated Feb. 27 at 9:25 p.m.

The Bruins were down by five with one minute left in the first half.

But after putting in 12 of the next 13 goals scored, the Bruins earned their first Barbara Kalbus Invitational tournament title in nearly a decade.

No. 1 UCLA women’s water polo (14-0, 1-0 MPSF) tallied a 12-1 run to beat No. 2 Hawaii (11-2) by a score of 15-9 in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational final Sunday.

Despite starting the championship match with four turnovers and only one goal scored in the first quarter, the Bruins were able to change things up as they entered the second half of the game.

“I think that when we switched at half, we made the decision to come back and be tough out there,” senior attacker Malia Allen said. “I think that something our team has is belief, and I don’t think we ever stopped believing that we could come back and win that game.”

After a goal from freshman utility Panni Szegedi in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Bruins took off, and the Rainbow Wahine never scored again. Allen scored the final two goals of her hat trick, along with sophomore utility Anna Pearson, who drew her seventh defensive exclusion of the game and 18th of the tournament.

“Her (Pearson’s) individual effort was incredible,” said coach Adam Wright. “Two times we had shots and balls in front of the goal, and somehow she gets them and puts them in the goal. There’s no doubt she’s a top player in the country.”

This win marks UCLA’s first of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational since 2015. The tournament, hosted by UC Irvine, was renamed to honor Barbara Kalbus, who served as president of USA Water Polo and was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1993.

“She was my team manager when I was a player. It is the biggest tournament of the year besides everybody’s conference tournament, so the top teams are there,” Wright said. “At the end of the day, it’s pretty special for me because of who Barbara Kalbus was in my life. We have a long way to go, a lot of things to clean up, but we’ve got a good group.”

On its way to the final, UCLA defeated Cal State Fullerton (4-8), No. 10 UC Irvine (6-8) and No. 4 Stanford (10-3).

The Bruins outscored both the Titans and the Anteaters by more than double their opponents’ points.

The Bruins’ underclassmen made big contributions during the first two rounds of the tournament, with freshman attacker Becca Melanson racking up four goals and two assists against Fullerton, and freshman goalkeeper Lauren Steele totaling 20 saves against Irvine. Steele’s career-high save total marked the most by a Bruin goalkeeper since 2010.

“She’s (Steele is) such a huge part of our team,” said Pearson. “She just leads our defense. It’s amazing having her back in the goal. I know I can put all of my trust into her.”

UCLA will look to continue their undefeated streak as they travel to Bloomington, Indiana, on Saturday to face No. 13 Indiana.