Nine days after a dominant victory over CSUN, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team saw a second-half lead dissolve into a 63-60 loss in Saturday’s road rematch with the Matadors.

After the game, Rainbow Wahine coach Laura Beeman summed up the swing in fortune succinctly.

“We absolutely did not handle their post play,” Beeman said in a phone interview following the loss in Northridge, Calif.

CSUN center Channon Fluker, a 6-foot-4 freshman, controlled the paint to score 25 of her season-high 31 points in the second half and accounted for nearly half of the Matadors’ offense while leading them to their first conference win of the season.

Fluker made 11 of 17 shots from the field, went 9-for-11 from the free-throw line and grabbed 11 rebounds to help CSUN (3-16, 1-4 Big West) snap an eight-game losing streak.

UH fell to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play while settling for a split for the third straight week.

Just over a week after rolling to a 77-50 win over CSUN at the Stan Sheriff Center, UH outscored the Matadors 18-6 in the second quarter on Saturday and took a 30-23 lead into halftime. UH stretched the lead to 14 in the third quarter before Fluker led the comeback for CSUN.

Along with the Matadors putting together an improved performance since the first meeting, “I saw a whole different Hawaii team out there,” Beeman said.

“We got in foul trouble early, we didn’t execute our offense and defensively we couldn’t get a stop. … I won’t take anything away from CSUN, they’re definitely improved. The guards attacked us, and obviously their inside game affected us terribly.”

Fluker’s performance marked the second straight Saturday that the Rainbow Wahine saw an opposing player score 31 points. The previous week it was UC Riverside guard Brittany Crain who frustrated the Wahine from the perimeter in a 77-74 win over UH. This time the Wahine couldn’t contain Fluker’s play in the post.

“We had terrible shot selection (in the second half), couldn’t hit shots when we did have open looks, but the biggest problem was that we just couldn’t stop Fluker from getting to the basket so easy and converting,” Beeman said.

“We weren’t giving her any resistance. She was able to post up wherever she wanted and we weren’t able to keep her from turning and getting an easy look.”

UH also got most of its production inside, with forward Megan Huff and center Kalei Adolpho leading the Wahine with 12 points each. Huff shot 6-for-11 from the field and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, while Adolpho finished with eight rebounds. Guard Briana Harris hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points and Ashleigh Karaitiana added eight points and nine rebounds.

CSUN trimmed UH’s lead to 46-43 going into the fourth quarter and Fluker pushed the Matadors into the lead with a layup with 7:37 left.

UH answered and took a 52-49 lead on Huff’s layup with 6:21 remaining, but Fluker scored the first six points of an 11-2 CSUN run capped by Emily Cole’s 3-pointer.

Harris drained a 3 to bring UH back to within three at the 1:57 mark. But the Wahine missed their next three shots and Fluker put the game out of reach with two free throws with nine seconds remaining.

“We just didn’t execute down the stretch like we needed to,” Beeman said. “Shouldn’t have been in that position, bottom line.”

UH returns to the Sheriff Center to face Cal State Fullerton on Thursday and UC Irvine on Saturday.