The Hawaii women’s basketball team picked up its first conference road win of the season with a wire-to-wire decision at UC Riverside on Saturday, 65-59.

In a turnabout from its three Big West road losses coming into the day — including 62-55 at Long Beach State on Thursday — UH (9-10, 3-3 Big West) jumped out fast and led the whole way in beating the Highlanders (6-13, 2-3) for the second time in 10 days.

“Winning on the road, you know how hard it is,” coach Laura Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. “We knew we were going to have to hit free throws, make big shots and make big plays and all of those things happened tonight.”

The Wahine went 14-for-15 at the foul line to counter a 9-for-9 effort by Riverside. UH’s shortest player, 5-foot-5 point guard Nae Nae Calhoun, and tallest, 6-4 center Lauren Rewers, made two of the biggest plays of the game.

UH led 35-23 at halftime but saw its lead cut down to a point in the third quarter, despite Wahine senior guard Julissa Tago pouring in 11 of her team-high 15 points in the period. It was a seven-point game going to the fourth.

Rewers got the ball on a busted play with a second or two on the shot clock, but confidently stepped into a 3-pointer with 6:21 left, pushing the lead back to 56-48.

“That was ginormous,” Beeman said.

Riverside sliced it to four with under two minutes left.

That’s when Calhoun came up with a key steal on Riverside’s top player, Jannon Otto, in the open court with 1:30 left, and wing Jadynn Alexander hit two free throws after a flagrant foul on the play. UH got the ball back, allowing it to drain more time off the clock.

“Lauren’s 3, Nae’s steal and Jadynn’s hustle to get the ball, those were the plays of the game,” Beeman said.

The Wahine bench players outscored their Highlanders counterparts 21-4, with Amy Atwell chipping in nine points and Savannah Reier eight.

Otto had 21 points and forward Marina Ewodo added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the hosts at SRC Arena.

It was the first time since 2015 that UH swept the home-and-home series with Riverside.