FULLERTON, Calif. >> Channon Fluker and Cal State Northridge sent Hawaii packing once again.

The Rainbow Wahine were knocked out of the Big West tournament by CSUN for the third time in four years, 62-57 in the first round Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.

CSUN junior center Fluker, the two-time Big West player of the year, scored 24 points in her latest big game against the Wahine. She put the fifth-seeded Matadors up at the outset and her teammates fended off every charge mounted by the eighth-seeded Wahine, whose season came to an end at 12-18.

UH battled back from a 16-point third-quarter deficit to get within three in the final seconds, with the ball, before a costly inbounds turnover clinched it for CSUN (16-15), which advanced to face fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara today.

“You always want to see a team fight back … and to show a fight at the end of the game,” said guard Sarah Toeaina, who poured in 24 points (7-for-11 field goals, 10-for-12 free throws) to end her four-year career ninth (1,204) on the UH scoring chart. “But it’s been tough throughout the season. We have dug us a little hole, and it kind of became a habit of something we had to climb out of.

“It’s been truly a blessing with those alongside me and those who have helped me, and there’s no other island or state I would’ve wanted to represent in my final game than Hawaii.”

CSUN has become a regular roadblock for Wahine success at this stage, with the notable exception of UH’s 2016 championship.

“I want to congratulate Jason Flowers and Northridge. He finds a way,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “He’s fortunate to have a player like Channon Fluker, but Tessa Boagni showed up to do what she needed to do as well today.”

Boagni, a senior forward, passed 1,000 career points with 19 on 7-for-13 shooting.

UH trailed the whole way, but junior point guard Tia Kanoa kept racking up assists, finishing with 12 to tie Tricia Stringam (1992) for UH’s single-game record.

“The only time I get assists is when my teammates make a shot,” Kanoa said. “So, I can do what I can, draw up what I can, but at the end of the day, if they don’t hit the shot, I don’t get the stat. So it’s all on them for making the shots.”

Kanoa assisted on her team’s first five field goals to help pull UH out of an 11-1 hole and tie it at 14. But CSUN used a 9-0 run to close the second quarter, capped by Hayley Tanabe’s buzzer-beating scoop layup, to lead 33-21 at intermission.

UH went to fullcourt pressure, a rarity, in the second half to get back in it.

They encouraged Fluker, who ousted UH in the second round last March with a career-high 39 points, to take jumpers, but she buried them more often than not.

“I think tonight it just kind of felt like a shooting night,” Fluker said.

UH’s freshman posts, Lauren Rewers and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard, went scoreless but at least kept the 6-foot-4 junior (eight rebounds) from dominating the glass.

Beeman said of Fluker, “She’s a fabulous player. She really is. When you see a post player that gets in the paint, and it’s just layup after drop step after layup, and-1s, that is deflating to a team. I would much rather have her stand out there and hit shots, as she did, instead of pounding our young post players in the paint. I thought our game plan was good.”

At the other end, CSUN zoned to try to take away Toeaina’s lanes while denying open shots to Lahni Salanoa, who burned CSUN two weeks ago with five 3s and 19 points in a 56-54 UH win at the Matadome. Salanoa hit 2-for-8 on 3s Tuesday.

“We didn’t want her to get going and we didn’t want Julissa (Tago) to get going. But other than that, we were OK with them taking contested shots from the perimeter,” Flowers said.

UH caught a break late in the third quarter when Fluker picked up her fourth foul.

The Wahine rallied within five, 56-51, on Kenna Woodfolk’s putback with five minutes left. They remained stuck on 51 for the next four minutes, until Kanoa’s 3 made it a five-point game with a minute to go.

Tago (11 points) was fouled on a 3 with 45.5 seconds left and made all three free throws to make it 60-57.

The Matadors drained clock, missed twice, then Fluker got a huge offensive rebound for a new possession with nine seconds left and CSUN called timeout.

UH forced a five-second turnover on Boagni’s inbounds attempt. UH advanced the ball with a timeout, but then an active Boagni disrupted Toeaina’s inbounds attempt, tipping and stealing it. Boagni hit the clinching free throws with 3.9 seconds left.

“Tess played the pass really well. She was very active on the ball,” Toeaina said.

“We came back to the ball probably as well as we could have,” Beeman said. “There were some crazy plays at the end of that game to kind of force the ending that we had.”