Despite giving the ball away at a near-record rate on Sunday, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team proved stingy when it counted most.

Rainbow Wahine senior Ashleigh Karaitiana scored 14 points and came up with a block on the game’s final possession to preserve a 74-72 win over Sacramento State in a nonconference game at The Nest in Sacramento, Calif.

UH forward Megan Huff led the Wahine with 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting as they overcame 34 turnovers — five shy of the program’s single-game record — to snap a four-game losing streak while improving to 5-5.

“That’s a really good and a really difficult team to play,” UH coach Laura Beeman said of the Hornets (2-7). “I know their record doesn’t show how good they are, but that team is tough to play. They are high energy the entire game. … It feels like there are 10 of them at one time.

“The last part of that game definitely became pretty intense, but the entire game felt like a slugging match.”

Destiny King added nine points and nine rebounds for UH, which outrebounded Sacramento State 52-28 and scored 19 second-chance points.

UH’s work on the boards helped offset Sacramento State’s 29 points off turnovers. The Hornets led the nation with 14.5 steals per game entering Sunday’s play and swiped 15 against UH.

“We knew we were going to turn the ball over. It was just too much pressure and we’re still a little turnover prone,” Beeman said. “But (rebounding) was an area we knew could dominate and control and we did. They did a great job.”

Ashlyn Crenshaw led three Sacramento State players in double figures with 16 points. The Hornets had possession with three seconds left and inbounded the ball to Crenshaw, but her 3-point attempt at the buzzer was swatted away by Karaitiana, who had three of UH’s six blocks.

“I think initially they wanted to drive and get to the basket, and it was Ashleigh’s initial defense before the block that probably stopped the drive,” Beeman said.

Karaitiana contributed seven points in a 12-0 UH run in the third quarter that gave the Wahine a 50-41 lead. She started the spurt with a tying 3-pointer and followed with a layup to push UH ahead midway through the period. The Wahine held on to the lead the rest of the way, shooting 52.2 percent from the field in the second half and going 11-for-14 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

UH ended the game shooting 51 percent overall while Sacramento State went 19-for-69 (27.5 percent) overall and 7-for-29 from 3-point range. The Hornets had been averaging 12 3-pointers made per game, the most in Division I.

UH continues its holiday-season road trip at San Jose State on Tuesday before taking a break for Christmas.