Long Beach State’s hot finish on Thursday put an end to Hawaii’s seven-game winning streak in the series between the Big West rivals.

The visiting Rainbow Wahine basketball team couldn’t keep pace with the 49ers late and Long Beach State opened the conference schedule with a 68-57 win at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

LBSU (10-6, 1-0 BWC), the Big West’s preseason favorite, went 10-for-13 from the field in the fourth quarter, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range, to pull away and earn its first win over the Rainbow Wahine (4-9, 0-1) since Jan. 30, 2014.

LBSU forward Madison Montgomery scored a career-high 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting, guard Raven Benton added a season-high 19 points with three 3-pointers and senior point guard Anna Kim finished with eight assists.

“The second half we hit a lull and we just couldn’t get out of it,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “A veteran team like Long Beach was able to, when they hit their lull, work through it and pick up their intensity and we just weren’t able to do that. That’s something we have to improve upon.”

UH guard Sarah Toeaina led the Wahine with 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting, with seven rebounds and three assists. Point guard Olivia Crawford added 12 points.

“Sarah had a great game,” Beeman said. “Her jumper looked beautiful, she attacked, she was in rhythm, she had some big boards for us throughout the game.”

UH held LBSU to 35.4 percent shooting in the previous seven meetings and the 49ers again struggled against the UH defense early with an 8-for-30 shooting performance in the first half. But the Wahine went 7-for-30 and LBSU took a 20-17 lead into halftime.

“They were great shots and we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” Beeman said.

Both teams warmed up considerably after the break and the 49ers finished at 42.4 percent overall and went 11-for-13 from the free-throw line. UH also had a solid shooting performance in the second half at 61 percent and finished at 39.6 percent overall.

The Wahine were without 6-4 center Adrienne Darden, who started the previous two games but did not make the trip due to injury.

“I hate losing, but I’m very pleased with some of the great things we did tonight,” Beeman said.

“I thought there were some things we can grow, some things we need to change. The biggest thing is we need to have sustained effort and we didn’t. No longer can I say it’s because we’re young. We’re not going to use that excuse anymore. … So this is a great opening game to play one of the best teams in the conference and go toe-to-toe with them and I thought we did.”

UH continues its road trip at UC Davis on Saturday.