After throwing an early scare at No. 24 Southern California, the University of Hawai'i women's basketball team fizzled in the second half, falling 80-71 in the opener of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic last night.

Eshaya Murphy scored a team-high 15 points, and USC rallied from a seven-point, first-half deficit with a gritty effort in the final 20 minutes in the season-opener for both teams.

"I didn't have them ready," Hawai'i second-year coach Jim Bolla said. "I don't think we ran a play the whole second half all the way through. You can't do that against a good team like USC."

At the Stan Sheriff Center, a crowd of 880 watched the Women of Troy — a team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season — outrebound the Rainbow Wahine, 30-19, and outscore them, 43-31, in the second half.

The USC loss was Hawai'i's 19th consecutive defeat to a ranked opponent.

"We broke down," UH guard Janevia Taylor said of the Rainbow Wahine, who shot 49 percent (16 of 33) in the first half, but only 26 percent (9 of 35) in the second half. "We weren't focused in the second half."

USC plays Eastern Illinois today at 5 p.m. Hawai'i will host Eastern Illinois tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the final day of the round-robin tournament.

Hawai'i's Amy Sanders scored a game-high 20 points, Taylor 15 and Tanya Smith 12. Pam Tambini and Smith each had nine rebounds.

"I take a lot of blame for this loss," said Sanders, a senior tri-captain, who scored 15 first-half points, but just five in the second half. "It was an ugly 20 points. And six turnovers is totally unacceptable for a senior."

USC's LeNoir and Chloe Kerr each added 13 points, and Allison Jaskowiak 12. Kerr added 13 rebounds.

Despite its second-half troubles, Hawai'i still had a chance following Dalia Solia's basket that closed UH to 75-70 with 53.9 seconds remaining.

After a pair of free throws by USC's Camille LeNoir, Hawai'i missed hurried shots on its final three possessions. LeNoir sealed the game, hitting three of her final four free throws.

"We would let them drive, but no 3s at that point," USC coach Mark Trakh said of the final seconds. "We knew we were in good shape if we didn't give up a couple of 3s."

A 3-pointer by USC's Jamie Hagiya gave the Women of Troy their first lead of the second half at 46-44. After USC increased its lead to 55-49, Hawai'i cut the deficit to 57-55 on a basket by Solia.

But that's as close as Hawai'i would get.

Trakh said Hawai'i "killed us in the first half, so it all evened out."

"They were outplaying us, so we just said, 'We need to rebound more,' " he said. "We needed to tighten up on defense."

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.