A road win over the conference leader eluded the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team on Saturday.

But by coach Laura Beeman’s measure, the Rainbow Wahine won’t return home entirely empty-handed.

UC Riverside survived a wild finish and clinched the Big West regular-season title with an 81-77 win over the Rainbow Wahine at SRC Arena in Riverside, Calif.

UCR guard Brittany Crain scored 21 points to lead four Highlanders in double figures and Simone DeCoud’s 3-pointer with 3:16 left gave UCR (21-7, 14-0 Big West) the lead for good in a roller-coaster matchup between the conference’s top two teams.

UH senior Destiny King led the Rainbow Wahine (17-10, 10-4) with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field and center Kalei Adolpho finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Briana Harris and forward Megan Huff both contributed 13 points off the bench as UH saw its seven-game winning streak snapped.

“I thought it was a great game,” Beeman said in a phone interview. “We had some costly turnovers at the end and they didn’t. They hit some big shots at the end and we didn’t.

“This was a game for us to get better, I absolutely think we did. … We were not going to win first place tonight — it was about getting better and gaining confidence … and it happened tonight.”

UH outrebounded UCR 41-25 and scored 38 points in the paint, but committed 19 turnovers leading to 23 points for the Highlanders.

“They’re a great team with great players who hit big shots. We’re a great team; we just have to get the confidence they have.”

UH fell into tie for second place in the conference with Long Beach State, but holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with a sweep of the 49ers. The Wahine return to the Stan Sheriff Center this week and close the regular season with games against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

UH led for a total of 29 minutes in the game and went up by four with 6:05 left before UCR closed to within two and took the lead on DeCoud’s 3-pointer.

The Highlanders maintained a slim lead into the final minute and went up 78-75 on two Crain free throws with 11.9 seconds left.

After a timeout, Huff grabbed the rebound off Ashleigh Karaitiana’s missed 3-pointer and scored on the putback to bring UH within a point with seven seconds left. Karaitiana came up with a steal on the inbound and fed Huff, whose shot fell off the front of the rim. UCR got the rebound and sealed the win from the free-throw line to finish off a season sweep against UH.

Rejane Verin posted 19 points and 11 rebounds and DeCoud went 4-for-6 from 3-point range and finished with 18 points.

The Highlanders rallied for a 77-74 win at the Sheriff Center on Jan. 16 and the regular-season battles may end up as prelude to another meeting in the conference tournament.

“I think if we are both fortunate enough to make it to finals of the Big West Conference tournament people are going to have one heck of a great game again,” Beeman said. “This was a great game tonight. It was fun.”

BIG WEST WOMEN

Saturday

UC Riverside 81, Hawaii 77

Long Beach State 67, UC Irvine 49

Cal Poly 66, UC Santa Barbara 60

UC Davis 57, CSUN 50

Thursday

UC Santa Barbara at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

UC Riverside at UC Irvine

CSUN at Cal State Fullerton

UC Davis at Long Beach State

UC Riverside 81, Hawaii 77

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

3-point goals — Hawaii 4-15 (Crawford 1-1, Wimbley 1-1, Harris 1-5, Karaitiana 1-5, Toeaina 0-3). UCR 6-14 (DeCoud 4-6, Martin 1-2, Crain 1-6). Steals — Hawaii 5 (Toeaina 2, Karaitiana, King, Harris). UCR 8 (Crain 4, DeCoud 2, Verin, Curry) Blocked shots — Hawaii none. UCR 1 (Verin). Turnovers — Hawaii 19 (Harris 5, King 4, Toeaina 3, Huff 2, Adolpho 2, Karaitiana 2, Team). UCR 9 (Verin 3, Crain 3, DeCoud, Curry, Martin). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Julie Krommenhoek, Margaret Tieman, Danielle Johnson. A—623.