It was a paint-by-numbers kind of night. One that Hawaii used to show that last Saturday’s performance — outscored 32-6 inside by UC Davis — was a fluke.

The Rainbow Wahine got back to their winning ways by going back to their inside game, taking down nemesis CSUN 77-50 in a Big West basketball game Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana continued to work on her second 1,000 points, finishing with a game-high 17, and Hawaii outscored CSUN 38-8 inside — including 24-6 in the second half — to improve to 9-7 overall, 2-1 in conference. Senior center Kalei Adolpho and sophomore center Megan Huff each added 12 points for the Wahine, now 5-0 against the Matadors in Honolulu.

All 13 Wahine played, with 11 scoring in the rout. CSUN (8-8. 0-2), with no starters returning from the team that defeated Hawaii in last season’s Big West title game, was led by sophomore guard Serafina Maulupe’s 17 points.

The Wahine’s balance and taking care of the ball — 12 turnovers, 4 in the second half — were key.

“It was a good team effort, there was a lot of good chemistry out there,” said Karaitiana, now at 1,035 career points. “We have threats inside and out and that makes it harder for teams to defend us.

“But we still have things we need to work on. Maybe other people didn’t see it, but we know there are things, like jumping to the ball and anticipating screens.”

Hawaii will work on that today before taking on conference co-leader UC Riverside and the reigning conference player of the year, senior guard Brittany Crain, who is 86 points shy of 2,000 career points. The Wahine face the Highlanders (10-7, 3-0) at 7 p.m. after a 5 p.m. alumnae game.

“It’s always been a tough battle with them with one of the best players in the conference,” Karaitiana said of the Highlanders and Crain. “We’ll need to keep working hard.”

Hawaii coach Laura Beeman was pleased with how the team rebounded from last Saturday’s road loss, in which the Wahine were outscored 19-10 in the fourth quarter in falling 60-58 to the Aggies. She saw her bench outscore CSUN 33-14 and also take a 15-2 edge in second-chance points.

“It’s always nice to be able to put both pieces together, our inside and outside games,” Beeman said. “And it was nice to go deep, giving reps for our bench players.

“We’ve been getting better at taking care of the ball, and we’re trusting each other. We’re a good team. We just have to trust what we have going on.”

Hawaii finished with a 41-22 edge in rebounds, led by senior guard Destiny King’s eight. The Wahine also had 19 assists, four each by King and junior guard Briana Harris.

CSUN started three sophomores and two freshmen “but regardless of who we have on the floor, there’s a certain

expectation that we have that wasn’t met,” Matadors coach Jason Flowers said. “Playing against a team like Hawaii with the experience that they have, the players that they have returning, obviously with the motivation they have to continue what they’ve started as a group, you have to play at a high level and our kids are figuring that out. After we were in foul trouble, obviously it played a part. But at the same time whoever we have on the floor, they know their assignments, they know what the game plan is and it’s up to us to execute and (Hawaii) did a better job of executing tonight.”

After hitting a season-high 11 3-pointers in Saturday’s loss at UC Davis, the Wahine used the 3-ball to open up a 19-12 lead in the first quarter, with Karaitiana and senior guard Marissa Wimbley each knocking down a trey. Karatiana hit her second — 15th of the season — with 5:30 left in the second and her 3-point play on a drive to the basket capped a 10-2 Hawaii run that pushed the lead to 33-16.

The margin ballooned to 18 (37-19) as King sank both free throws and a jumper with 2:30 remaining before halftime. CSUN closed the gap with five unanswered points, Maulupe’s second 3-pointer and a running banker by freshman guard Nautica Morrow.

The Wahine answered in a big way after halftime, opening with a 7-0 run that was expanded to 13-2 and included six points by Adolpho. Consecutive 3-pointers by Karaitiana and Harris gave Hawaii its largest lead up to that point at 56-29 with 3:05 to go in the third.

The Matadors used 3-point shooting to keep it within 20 points but could get no closer than 64-44. CSUN was 7-for-23 from beyond the arc, often forced outside and to shoot with under 10 seconds on the shot clock due to Hawaii’s tenacious defense.

BIG WEST WOMEN

Wednesday

UC Riverside 78, Long Beach State 60 Thursday

Hawaii 77, CSUN 50

UC Davis 74, UC Irvine 61 UC Santa Barbara 65, CSU Fullerton 47

Saturday

UC Riverside at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

Long Beach State at UC Irvine

CSU Fullerton at Cal Poly

UC Santa Barbara at CSUN

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.

Halftime — Hawaii 37, CSUN 24

3-point goals — CSUN 7-23 (Maulupe 3-7, Morrow 2-3, Cole 1-3, King 1-3, Boagni 0-1, Gilling 0-1, Allen 0-2, Ramos 0-3). Hawaii 6-10 (Karaitiana 3-3, Lahni Salanoa 1-1, Harris 1-2, Wimbley 1-2, Leah Salanoa 0-2). Steals — CSUN 6 (Maulupe 3, Boagni 2, Morrow). Hawaii 2 (King, Wimbley). Blocked shots — CSUN 1 (Boagni). Hawaii 3 (Morris 2, Huff). Turnovers — CSUN 9 (Allen 2, Boagni 2, Fluker 2, Maulupe 2, Ramos). Hawaii 12 (Leah Salanoa 3, Crawford 2, Morris 2, Adolpho, Huff, Karaitiana, Sampton, Toeaina). Technical fouls — none. Officials —Skelly Wingard, Kimberly Hobbs, Ethan Kahoano. A—1,881.