The home debut of Hawai'i acting head coach Pat Charity was a success tonight.

And playing the leading role against New Mexico State was reserve Allie Patterson.

Patterson, who averaged 12.4 minutes per game entering last night, finished with 16 points and Keisha Kanekoa added 12 as Hawai'i beat New Mexico State, 54-51, in a Western Athletic Conference game before 272 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Rainbow Wahine guard Catherine Cho made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 16.6 seconds. The last two, with 15.3 seconds left, put Hawai'i up three.

The Aggies took two timeouts on their final possession, and Madison Spence missed a 3-pointer from the left wing in the final seconds.

Hawai'i improved to 6-19 and 3-9. New Mexico State dropped to 8-18 and 4-8.

Charity, who started the season as the associate coach, took over prior to last week's road trip after the school opened an investigation into allegations head coach Jim Bolla kicked at one of his players earlier in the season.

The Rainbow Wahine lost last week to Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State with Charity running the team. Bolla didn't make the trip.

Bolla, who is on paid leave, also wasn't at last night's game.

There were 18 lead changes and 17 ties in the game.

Hawai'i's largest lead was four; New Mexico State's was six.

The Aggies made eight of their first 10 shots of the second half, but went 1 for 7 the rest of the way. The only field, a 3-pointer by Spence, cut Hawai'i's lead to 51-49 with 17.4 seconds left.

Patterson, 6-foot-1 sophmore, contributed eight points as Hawai'i took a 25-23 lead at halftime.

Hawai'i outrebounded New Mexico State 20-12 and had a 14-2 advantage in points in the paint in the first half.

Late in the first half, Hawai'i senior forward Tara Hittle injured her left knee while chasing after a loose ball. She didn't play in the second half.

Hawai'i next will host Louisiana Tech Sunday at 5 p.m.