ANAHEIM, Calif. >> Hawaii’s NCAA tournament dream came to a crashing halt in the Big West tournament championship game.

The Rainbow Wahine had their 15-game winning streak snapped at the hands of second-seeded Cal State Northridge, the defending tournament champion which pestered UH all game long with its quick guards and answered UH’s late charges to prevail 67-60 on Saturday at the Honda Center.

UH (23-8) cut an eight-point deficit to three in the second half, but CSUN countered to go back up double digits in the final minutes.

Laura Beeman’s team has an automatic berth to the WNIT as the Big West regular-season champion. If the Rainbow Wahine end up in that field as expected, it will be their third straight year in that event. UH has lost in progressively further Big West tourney rounds in each of Beeman’s three seasons — the second round in 2013, the semifinals in 2014 and now the title game.

"This is the press conference you don’t want to do," Beeman said as she took the postgame podium. "First off, I want to congratulate Northridge. I think they are a phenomenal team. I think they’re peaking at the right time. Their guardplay is phenomenal. Very, very difficult to handle three guards (Ashlee Guay, Janae Sharpe and Cinnamon Lister) who can do what they do. So congratulations to them for a fantastic season."

It was UH’s first conference title game appearance since 2002. The program hasn’t been to the NCAAs since 1998.

Freshman center Megan Huff led UH with 16 points and 14 rebounds off the bench, including 10 on the offensive end. Destiny King added 13 points and eight boards.

Senior Shawna-Lei Kuehu was held to seven points on 2-for-13 shooting, though she grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots.

CSUN (23-9) got 22 points from Guay and 20 from Sharpe.

Kuehu and King were named to the all-tournament team for Hawaii. Guay was the MVP and Sharpe made the all-tournament team.

UH was unable to beat CSUN’s fullcourt pressure for easy baskets. The Wahine committed 11 turnovers by halftime — many while attempting post entry passes — and 18 for the game. CSUN committed just nine turnovers.

The Matadors, who won both the 2014 Big West regular season and tournament title, were the preseason media pick to repeat as champion. They will make their second straight NCAA tournament appearance with the league’s automatic berth.

"Obviously Hawaii had a tremendous regular season and they deserved to be the regular-season champion, which to be quite honest is harder to do," CSUN coach Jason Flowers said. "The 16-game schedule that you have to be consistent over … Laura’s done a great job building that program, and so we have a lot of respect for what they did."

The Wahine blocked a season-high 11 shots, but the Matadors fearlessly drove into the paint even after their shots were sent into the stands. It often resulted in free-throw attempts.

UH trailed 27-20 at the break and tried to rally from an eight-point deficit for most of the second half. The Wahine got the deficit down to three a few times, and for the last at 45-42 at the midpoint of the period.

On one key sequence, King was blocked down low and Lister hit a corner 3 at the other end to extend the lead back to 49-42 with 9:11 to play.

UH pushed again, getting an inside basket from Connie Morris, but Sharpe scored on a twisting drive to put the Matadors back up eight.

Kuehu scored her first field goal of the game on a drive with 5:29 to play to make it 54-48. She was 0-for-9 prior to it.

Sharpe hit a corner 3 with 55 seconds left to put the Matadors up 64-54. Ashleigh Karaitiana answered with a 3, but UH could not scrape together enough points in the desperate final seconds.

"They gave us a great punch and could never fully get separation, and I think that tells you what kind of team we are, with the amount of shots that we missed," Beeman said. "We couldn’t get to the free-throw line. We turned the ball over too many times. And with that we made this a seven-point ballgame. So I think that tells you what type of team we are and what type of young ladies we have."

The Wahine tried to work it inside from the outset, but struggled offensively. UH shot 33.3 percent in the first half (34.4 percent for the game) and did not earn a trip to the foul line in the first half despite plenty of attempts inside.

Meanwhile, CSUN shot 7-for-10 on foul shots in the period. The Matadors finished 22-for-34 for the game, compared to 12-for-16 for UH.

UH matched its season-high in blocks (eight) by the four-minute mark of the first half and surpassed it with nine by halftime. Kuehu swatted CSUN guard Sharpe, the Big West Defensive Player of the Year, three times alone in the period. A fourth on Sharpe looked clean but Kuehu was called for her second foul and took a seat for the last couple minutes of the half.

CSUN took advantage with a steal off its pressure and a 3-pointer for a 27-20 lead.

UH did not manage a clean look in the final seconds of the period.