A slow start and a nightmarish finish sent the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team to a 90-50 loss to the University of Southern California on Thursday at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

The Rainbow Wahine (0-2) trailed 25-9 midway through the second quarter but cut the deficit to seven in the final minute of the half. UH closed to 56-45 with less than a minute left in the third quarter, but the Trojans went on 32-1 run over the next eight minutes to turn their season opener into a rout.

“We had open looks that we didn’t hit in the first and fourth quarter, we turned the ball over in the first and fourth quarter, and defensively we didn’t keep up our intensity in the first and fourth quarter,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.

“When you’re playing against a very athletic, longer team, they’re going to capitalize. They got a little hot and that’s exactly what happened.”

USC forward Jordan Sanders went 3-for-3 from 3-point range and led five USC players in double figures with 17 points off the bench. Freshman Rayah Marshall, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Trojans shot 61% from the field (20-for-33) in the second half to finish at 52% overall and went 9-for-17 from 3-point range.

USC won the rebounding battle 49-33 and outscored UH 40-20 in the paint as the Trojans’ length shut off Wahine drives into the lane.

UH center Kallin Spiller provided a bright spot for the Wahine with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Spiller didn’t play last season at Columbia when the Ivy League canceled the season. She had 11 points and eight boards in her UH debut at San Diego on Tuesday.

“Kallin’s been off the court for over 600 days,” Beeman said. “For her to come in and play a Power Five (team) and play with the confidence and the grit and determination that she did gives us a lot to build on.”

Both teams struggled from the field early on and USC took a 15-6 lead with UH going 3-for-18 in the first quarter. The Trojans built a 25-9 lead midway through the second quarter before Princeton transfer McKenna Haire hit back-to-back 3-pointers for UH.

The Wahine closed to 33-26 on a jumper by freshman Jacque David with 28 seconds left, but Sanders scored at the buzzer to stretch the lead to nine at halftime.

The third quarter was fairly even and UH trailed 56-45 when Amy Atwell hit her second 3-pointer of the quarter with 49 second left in the period. That would be UH’s last field goal until the 1:03 mark of the fourth quarter.

After an Atwell free throw with 9:16 left, the Trojans went on a 25-0 run, including four 3-pointers, before Haire hit a jumper to cap her 11-point performance.

UH shot 30% from the field overall and went 2-for-12 and had nine of its 17 turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“When games are easy you want to play and it’s fun. But when games are hard you have to grind it out,” Beeman said. “I’m hoping it’s a lesson learned. I think we showed in the second and third quarter what were capable of and the pieces that we have, but it has to be consistent.”

UH makes its home debut on Nov. 19 against Portland in the Bank of Hawaii Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.