Two nights after falling to the Big West leader, the Hawaii women’s basketball team closes a trying homestand against Cal State Northridge today in a matchup of teams on divergent trajectories.

Coming off two road losses, the Rainbow Wahine (8-16, 4-8 Big West) entered a run of four games at the Stan Sheriff Center with hopes of gaining ground on the teams ahead in the standings. Instead, the Wahine slipped into seventh place as their losing skid stretched to five with a 69-50 loss to first-place UC Davis on Thursday.

Conversely, CSUN (14-11, 7-4) has won six straight — including 67-56 over UH at the Matadome in Northridge, Calif., two weeks ago. That run has the Matadors jumping from seventh to fourth and into contention for a first-round bye at next month’s Big West tournament.

While the Matadors fight for a spot in the top four, the Wahine head into today’s 7 p.m. meeting looking to avoid being swept on the homestand while working to regain their footing before the conference tournament.

After facing CSUN, UH plays at UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton next week, the two teams below the Wahine in the standings, before returning home for senior night against Long Beach State on March 4.

“We should be playing our best basketball right now and we’re not,” UH coach Laura Beeman said after Thursday’s loss. “So we need to fight (tonight) against CSUN, against a very talented and physical team, and then we need to take it to the road and that’s going to be the test if we’re ready for the tournament or not.”

UH’s losing streak is the program’s longest since a seven-game slide early in the 2011-12 season, the year before Beeman’s arrival in Manoa. The Wahine have been outscored 190-94 in the paint during the skid and face another of the Big West’s top post players in CSUN sophomore center Channon Fluker, who averages 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per game.

“(Fluker’s) a back-to-the-basket banger (and) very, very athletic,” Beeman said. “We’re going to have to try to give her some pressure from guards and some other spots, but she’s very capable of kicking it out and finding shooters.”

Fluker, winner of the past two Big West Player of the Week awards, posted 21 points and 14 rebounds in the first meeting with UH on Feb. 4. Guard Serafina Maulupe is second in the conference with 33 3-pointers in league play.

UH has averaged 52.4 points while shooting 32 percent from the field over the past five games. Beeman said the lack of production on offense takes a toll on defense, with opponents averaging 69 points and shooting nearly 46 percent during the streak.

“Teams know they can pound it in and score fairly easily on us, and our defense isn’t going to be able to hold people off all night long if we’re not able to score on the other end,” Beeman said. “Then it’s kind of a snowball effect.”

Guard Sarah Toeaina (13.8 ppg) has scored in double figures in nine straight games, and freshman guard Courtney Middap led the Wahine with 13 points on Thursday in a breakout performance to an injury-plagued season.