The second leg of the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team’s season-opening road trip was more arduous than the first.

But the Rainbow Wahine managed to weather the high elevation of Flagstaff, Ariz., and held off host Northern Arizona’s comeback attempt to close the trip with a 61-52 win on Sunday.

Two days after a 33-point season-opening win at Grand Canyon, the Rainbow Wahine built a 16-point lead in the second quarter and led 35-21 at halftime at NAU’s Rolle Activity Center.

The Lumberjacks chipped into the lead and closed to within two twice in the fourth quarter, the second time at 50-48 with 5:33 left. But the Wahine (2-0) managed to protect the lead both times and coach Laura Beeman breathed a sigh of relief in the thin air close to 7,000 feet above sea level.

"A win is a win," Beeman said in a phone interview. "Not the prettiest, but ugly wins are better than pretty losses."

"We just have to keep getting better. Offensively it’s early, we anticipated some struggles. We had some funky lineups today, but we got good minutes from some people and we were able to pull out a road win in a very difficult place to play against just a very hungry NAU team."

Sophomore guard Sarah Toeaina led UH for the second straight game with 14 points off the bench and senior Destiny King finished with 13, the last two coming on a turnaround jumper in the lane that gave the Wahine breathing room at 58-52.

"It was just calming down. Calming down on the offensive side and on defense, getting back to what we do," King said of fending off NAU’s second-half charge.

"When they came back it was, ‘keep our composure and it’s time to go. This is what we do on a daily basis, grind it out.’ That’s what we told each other on the bench and in the game."

Ashleigh Karaitiana scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter and UH built a double-digit lead while NAU struggled from the field.

The Lumberjacks went 0-for-10 from 3-point range, but shot 80 percent (24-for-30) from the free-throw line to close the early deficit.

UH shot 68 percent from the line and Beeman attributed 23 turnovers to "rushing things. Not making good decisions with the ball."

"We were just kind of kicking the ball and not making crisp passes," Beeman said. "Everything was very fast for us today, really struggled with patience on offense."

Freshman guard Olivia Crawford was not available due to injury, leaving the Wahine with a nine-player rotation. Foul trouble forced Beeman into varied combinations.

Center Brianna Kennedy finished with two points and three rebounds but Beeman highlighted her 17 minutes off the bench as a key in giving the starters enough rest to fend off the Lumberjacks late.

"She had 17 minutes and they were a really great 17 minutes," Beeman said.

Freshman Alyssa Rader led NAU with 12 points and 10 rebounds and guard Mariah Willadsen also finished with 12 points.

UH makes its home debut on Friday against Loyola Marymount in the first day of the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

HAWAII 61, NORTHERN ARIZONA 52

RAINBOW WAHINE (2-0)

LUMBERJACK (0-1)

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 35, Northern Arizona 21
3-points goals — Hawaii 2-12 (Toeaina 1-3, Karaitiana 1-4, King 0-1, Salanoa 0-1, Harris 0-3). Northern Arizona 0-10 (Leyva 0-1, Preston 0-1, Rader 0-1, Coggins 0-3, Mulder 0-4). Steals — Hawaii 6 (Karaitiana 2, Morris 2, Harris, King). Northern Arizona 10 (Coggins 4, Mulder 4, Willadsen, Young). Blocked shots — Hawaii 4 (Huff, Harris, Kennedy, Toeaina). Northern Arizona 4 (Mulder 2, Raider 2). Turnovers — Hawaii 23 (Huff 5, Karaitiana 4, Harris 3, Toeaina 3, Adolpho 2, King 2, Salanoa 2, Morris, TEAM). Northern Arizona 16 (Mulder 4, Leyva 2, Preston 2, Rader 2, Amukamara, Coggins, Lusain, Willadsen, Young, TEAM). , Technical fouls — none. Officials — Wanda Szeremeta, Gator Parrish, Tiffany Bird. A—378.