LONG BEACH, Calif. » The Rainbow Wahine nearly threw away a chance to clinch the Big West regular season basketball title.

But Hawaii’s resolve protected a slim lead and its defense prevented a potential game-winning basket as UH beat the 49ers 47-46 to clinch the Big West title on Thursday night at the Walter Pyramid.

Shawna-Lei Kuehu’s 16 points off the bench helped the Wahine win their first conference title since 1993-94.

“We set out for a couple goals this year and one of them was to win the Big West title,” Kuehu said. “You have to really give it to this team, they worked really hard for it.

“Today wasn’t a pretty win but we’ll take that any day. But we have a lot of things to work on, the details, we really have to focus on the details and cleaning things up. But at the end of the day, it feels really good.”

Destiny King added nine points for the Wahine (20-7, 12-2). The victory in front of 831 extended their winning streak to 12.

“We’re excited,” King said. “It was a big win for us. It was a grind-out game, it was a fight. It was amazing to win on the road.”

Hawaii got the league title outright with its win and Cal Poly’s 68-52 win over second-place UC Davis (13-12, 8-5). The Rainbow Wahine play again March 5 at UC Santa Barbara and then finish the regular season March 7 against Cal State Fullerton on senior night.

The title also gives Hawaii the top seed and a double bye for March’s Big West Tournament.

UH tied a season high with 24 turnovers and didn’t score in the final three minutes.

But it outrebounded Long Beach State 44-27, led by Ashleigh Karaitiana’s 13, and held the 49ers to 34 percent shooting. After giving up four 3-pointers in the first half, the Wahine held the 49ers to just one in the second.

“That was done with the leadership we have on this team and the people on the court were able to execute on the court,” Karaitiana said.

Hallie Meneses led Long Beach State (20-7, 7-6) with 19 points and Alex Sanchez added 13. The 49ers got the ball back with 2.4 seconds remaining but Meneses couldn’t get a shot off.

“Hallie and Alex basically said get on my back,” said Long Beach State coach Jody Wynn. “I’m just really, really proud of their effort.”

In the second half, associate coach Mary Wooley implored the Rainbow Wahine to trust each other on the floor.

“For a moment in the game, we were playing really individual basketball,” Kuehu said. “Too early in the shot clock shots, not even rebounding. When you have a freshman like Megan Huff come up to me and say, ‘I got your rebounds,’ you know that she has your back. We had to will ourselves to win.”

Hawaii trailed most of the second half, but took the lead for good on Sarah Toeaina’s putback that made it 38-37 with 6:55 left. The Rainbow Wahine led 41-37 after Karaitiana’s free throw with 5:52, their largest lead of the game. The 49ers cut the deficit to one on four occasions, the last on Meneses’ layup with 32 seconds that made it 47-46.

The Rainbow Wahine couldn’t get a shot off on their next possession, burning the entire 30-second shot clock and giving the 49ers the ball back with 2.4 seconds left. After two timeouts, Long Beach State inbounded the ball at half court to Meneses, who dribbled the ball with Kuehu on her, but couldn’t get off a shot as time expired.

“I think we gave ourselves a chance, just not long enough,” Wynn said.

Hawaii couldn’t convert on its last four straight possessions after King scored with 3:01 remaining that made it 47-44. King sat most of the second half with foul trouble but returned with five minutes left, hit two quick baskets and came up with a big steal with 2:24 remaining when she poked the ball from behind Cecily Wilson.

“I saw different things, you see different things when you’re on the bench,” King said. “When I was on the bench and I was looking at the things they were doing and they were adjusting to, we had to make the adjustments.”

Thursday

Hawaii 47, Long Beach State 46

Cal Poly 68, UC Davis 52

UC Irvine 58, UC Santa Barbara 46

CSUN 65, Cal State Fullerton 53

Saturday

Cal Poly at UC Irvine

UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis

Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton

CSUN at UC Riverside