Diaba Konate had missed her first 24 tries from 3-point range this season, but the senior guard for the UC Irvine women’s basketball team couldn’t pass up a wide-open opportunity on Saturday afternoon.

Konate swished the basket to cap the game-deciding third-quarter run against UC Davis and all that was left for the second-seeded Anteaters to ride their stingy defense to their first Big West Tournament title in 29 years with a 53-39 victory against fifth-seeded UC Davis in Henderson, Nevada.

“It’s just such a long journey and it’s not easy. If anybody says it is, they’re lying,” said UCI coach Tamara Inoue, who was hired by the Anteaters in April of 2016. “To be able to do it in Orange County, where I’m from, where I went to college and high school, it’s just so great for our community. I’m so thrilled.”

The victory means UCI (23-8) is headed to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history and the first time since 1995.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said UCI junior guard Deja Lee, who scored a team-high 21 points in the title game. “It’s been over 25 years since we’ve punched that ticket. … We’ll be dancing for sure, that’s all that matters.”

The Anteaters will learn their seeding and the location and opponent for their first-round game when the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT (ESPN).

UCI turned a 21-19 halftime lead into a 34-19 advantage on Konate’s 3-pointer with 4:09 left in the third quarter.

After holding the Aggies to 1-for-16 shooting from the field and four points in the third quarter, the Anteaters took a 21-point lead into the fourth and then leaned on their conference-leading defense the rest of the way.

Lee, who became the first player in program history to be named Big West Player of the Year earlier this week, shot 8 for 12 to pace the Anteaters, who have won six games in a row, all by double digits.

Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba had 13 points and nine rebounds and Konate scored 10 points for UCI.

“It’s the best feeling in the world and I am so grateful to do it with this team,” Inoue said. “We’ve been to the championship game a couple times and fell short, but I am just beyond grateful to have this team and to go with these guys.”

The Anteaters had reached the championship game in two of the past three seasons, both as the second-seeded team as well, but each time they were matched against the top-seeded team and lost.

On Saturday, UCI was facing a UC Davis team that was trying to win its fourth game in as many days after opening the tournament with a win against eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, beating fourth-seeded Cal Poly (SLO) on Thursday and then knocking off top-seeded Hawaii on Friday.

Fontana native Evanne Turner (Etiwanda High) scored 18 points as the only player in double figures for the Aggies (20-14), who had won five straight heading into the title game, but were held to 26.4% shooting and turned the ball over 17 times.

UCI’s turnaround under Inoue has been both immediate and consistent.

In her second season, the Anteaters posted their most wins (18) since the 1994-95 season. A year later, UCI recorded its first 20-win season in 34 years, a milestone that it has currently surpassed in three straight seasons.

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After recording the most wins in conference play in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, but missing out on the top seed because of winning percentage, UCI won its first Big West regular-season title last season, but again the Anteaters weren’t the team cutting down the nets at the end of the tournament.

Getting over that obstacle has been the best thing that’s happened to Lee.

“This is No. 1 on my list, for sure,” she said. “It just feels so great to win with this group of girls because this is something we’ve been vying for the year before last, last year and even this year, so I’m glad we got it done. I’m glad we got it done together.”

Making this season’s run even more impressive was that UCI played without Hunter Hernandez. who was the team’s leading scorer through 25 games as a sophomore last season before tearing her ACL with seven games left in the regular season.

The injury led her to redshirt this season.