Briana Harris got some advice from around the other side of the globe to prepare for a trip home.

The Hawaii guard opens her senior season with the Rainbow Wahine basketball team today at USC, about 25 minutes from her home in Inglewood, Calif. As game day approached, she reached out to former UH teammate Destiny King, who now plays in Spain after helping lead UH’s run to the Big West title last season.

“I talked to Destiny (on Monday) and I was, ‘This is my last first game in college,’” Harris said, “and she said, ‘I know you’re going to be nervous. Just breathe in, breathe out and play your game.’”

Where King was part of a five-member senior class last season, Harris has that distinction all to herself on a comparatively green Rainbow Wahine roster heading into today’s 3 p.m. opener at USC’s Galen Center.

She’s one of five returnees who ended last season across town in Pauley Pavillion — where the Wahine march ended with a loss to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament — and now form the foundation for this season that begins with the two-game road trip to USC and CSU Bakersfield on Sunday.

“We’re trying to do the best we can to build on every experience we took from last year — the leadership, the team bonding, coming together,” Harris said.

Harris was UH’s first guard off the bench most of last season. The Wahine return starters in sophomore point guard Olivia Crawford and junior wing Sarah Toeaina. Twins Lahni and Leah Salanoa will play prominent roles as sophomores.

Graduation and offseason transfers depleted the post rotation, thrusting freshmen Taylor Donohue and Makenna Woodfolk into the spotlight right away.

“Overall, it’s just a day at a time in all of our positions and it’s really trying to compete and trying to grow,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “But overall I think our identity is still being shaped. … It’s not going to come Friday night, it’s going to come over time.”

Beeman will have eight players available when the Wahine take the floor against the Trojans, but Harris isn’t fazed by the prospect of playing long minutes with a short bench.

“We prepared for this since summer,” Harris said. “All the conditioning we did, all the weight training, it prepared us for this moment.”

UH opens the season against a USC team voted ninth in the Pac-12 coaches and media preseason polls after going 19-13 overall and 6-12 in conference play last season. The Women of Troy, under the direction of fourth-year coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, return four starters, led by 6-foot-1 senior guard Jordan Adams, who averaged 12.8 points and 7.7 rebounds last season.

“With a young team you never feel like you have enough time, but I feel like we have everything that we need to compete and do what we need to do (today),” Beeman said. “It’s just whether or not we can apply the things we’ve learned, if we can handle the level of physicality and speed and if we’re going to do all the little things, the boards, the hustle plays.”

POINT GUARDS

Returning: Olivia Crawford (sophomore, 5-5, 3.4 ppg, 1.4 apg), Leah Salanoa (sophomore, 5-10, 2.0 ppg, 0.5 apg)

Newcomer: Tia Kanoa* (sophomore, 5-8)

Outlook: Crawford started the last 20 games of last season’s run surrounded by a senior-heavy lineup. With a younger cast this season, Beeman praised her play in practice in “leading the team on the floor with what she’s doing offensively and defensively and with her voice.” Salanoa made two starts last year and provides a contrasting look at the point and her height and court vision could create matchup problems for opponents.

Beeman: “We’re young in that position. They’re going to carry the bulk of the load. … They have a huge job ahead of them leading this team being so young.”

WINGS

Returning: Briana Harris (senior, 5-7, 8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Sarah Toeaina (junior, 5-11, 6.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg)

Newcomers: Julissa Tago (freshman, 5-9), Courtney Middap (freshman 5-10), Rachel Odumu* (sophomore, 5-9)

Outlook: Harris finished second on the team with 35 3-pointers last season and the left-hander showed off her smooth stroke in draining four in UH’s exhibition win over UH Hilo. Toeaina’s strength typically is her mid-range game and getting into the paint. Tago hit three 3-pointers against UH Hilo in a promising debut. Middap is recovering from knee surgery and could miss the first month of the season.

Beeman: “In that position we have more depth, definitely have the ability to shoot the ball better than we’ve shot in a long time. That’s where most of our experience is. We have to get a little more rebounding out of that group and a little bit more composure out of that group.”

FORWARDS/POSTS

Returning: Lahni Salanoa (sophomore, 1.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg)

Newcomers: Adrienne Darden (freshman 6-4), Taylor Donohue (freshman 6-3), Makenna Woodfolk (freshman 6-2), Keleah-Aiko Koloi (freshman, 6-0), Amy Atwell* (freshman, 6-0).

Outlook: Even with limited minutes in an injury-shortened freshman season, Salanoa is still the most experienced member of the post group. She can pull opposing forwards out of the paint as a 3-point threat and drive from the wing. Donohue and Woodfolk will have to learn on the run as the only true post players available today with Koloi easing back from a knee injury. Darden transferred to UH last spring and will be eligible after the fall semester.

Beeman: “I think Lahni is a little bit of a difficult matchup because she’s more stretch and can shoot the 3. She’s been playing very, very well. … (Donohue and Woodfolk) were supposed to be role players and to be thrown in to the fire, it’s challenging, but they’re going to have the great opportunity to learn and grow in the middle of it.”

*will redshirt this season.

Wahine sign 3 for 2017-18

Size and depth were recruiting priorities for Hawaii coach Laura Beeman and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team checked off both with its three-member signing class.

Wednesday marked the opening of the early signing period for basketball and UH announced the signings of 6-foot-4 center Lauren Rewers, 6-foor-3 forward Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard and 5-foot-10 guard Jadynn Alexander on Thursday.

“We feel good about this class. We feel it meets our needs and their personalities fit very well with who and what we are,” Beeman said.

Rewers averaged 12.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.9 blocks and 1.5 assists per game at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She enters her senior season as a two-time first-team all-Inland Empire League selection and holds the league record with 10 blocks in a game.

Hoycard gives the Wahine a “stretch four” with the ability to shoot from the perimeter as well as provide height inside. She is averaging 20.8 points per game for CBC Basketball Club in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. She’ll add to the Australian presence on a UH roster that includes freshmen Courtney Middap and Amy Atwell.

Alexander gives UH another scorer from the wing and averaged 18.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.2 steals as a junior at Monroe High School in Washington.