A longshot comeback against UC Riverside came down to a long shot.

But Tia Kanoa’s deep 3 to tie clanked off the back iron. In the end, the Highlanders’ 20-point lead was too much to overcome in Hawaii’s 60-55 defeat on Wednesday night.

The Stan Sheriff Center gathering of 367 had little to cheer about as Riverside junior guard Jannon Otto sank shot after shot for three quarters. Finally, the Rainbow Wahine (7-12, 3-3 Big West) made a run at it, applying fullcourt pressure and hitting some timely shots during a 23-7 run.

“You have to put four quarters together,” said UH coach Laura Beeman, whose team trailed by 10 after a quarter and by 13 at halftime. “I think the girls always want to show up and play. But I think there’s a difference between wanting to play when it’s easy and wanting to play when it’s hard.”

“Like Coach said, we have to start it from the get-go,” said Leah Salanoa, who scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to key the rally.

The Wahine were without guard Courtney Middap, who alleviates pressure on Kanoa, due to injury. That was apparent early as UH struggled against Riverside’s lengthy players and switching defense.

Otto poured in 22 points on 11-for-19 shooting, but was held to as many points as turnovers (two) in the fourth quarter. Riverside (9-11, 3-3) committed half of its 18 turnovers in the fourth. Many were against the press, which UH applied with about seven minutes left. Beeman said she thought about going to it sooner but decided not to because she was concerned her players — about seven of whom know the press — would burn out.

After Salanoa’s hard drive cut it to 58-55 with a minute left, Amy Atwell stole Riverside’s post entry pass and UH called timeout with 33.1 seconds left. Riverside had fouls to give and applied them, disrupting UH’s rhythm.

“It was partly them and partly us,” UCR coach John Margaritis said. “My job was … to make the lead last to the end of the game. Got a little help from a couple of the girls making something. And we had a lot of fouls to give, so we tried to use those.”

Kanoa got clear for a 25-foot 3 in the waning seconds but it hit off the back rim and the Highlanders converted two free throws for the final margin.

Jadynn Alexander put in six in the final period and Atwell had a couple of big buckets.

Salanoa shot 6-for-9, including 4-for-5 on 3s, to move into sole possession of 10th on the Wahine career 3s list with 91. She passed her sister, Lahni, who has 90 but was scoreless in 12 minutes Wednesday. April Atuaia is next up with 97.