PARIS — It certainly wasn’t easy but the No. 3-ranked USC women’s basketball team survived a tough challenge from No. 20 Mississippi to win the season opener 68-66 Monday to kick off a doubleheader in France.

In the opener at the 8,000-capacity Adidas Arena, home to the men’s Paris Basketball team, Kiki Iriafen made a pair of free throws in the final seconds as the turnover-prone Trojans wasted a double-figure lead and needed to rally late to win.

And the Trojans did it primarily from the free-throw line, making all 14 of their chances in the fourth quarter, and 23 of 29 in the game.

“I give a ton of credit to Ole Miss,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “We were not great, we were not good at times. That was largely because that’s how they make you feel, that’s how they try to play.”

The Rebels, who scored 18 points off 26 USC turnovers, rallied from deficits of 37-26 at halftime and 52-45 after three quarters to take a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss outscored the Trojans 40-31 in the second half.

“I thought we did some really good things at times and then all of a sudden it was the Ole Miss Invitational and we came to play their game and they were really good at it,” Gottlieb said.

The score was tied 66-66 with 10 seconds left when Iriafen — an Associated Press preseason All-America selection who transferred from Stanford — hit her two free throws.

Iriafen finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, while teammate JuJu Watkins — also an AP preseason All-America selection — led USC with 27 points. Watkins added 10 rebounds. Freshman Kennedy Smith, out of Etiwanda High, made her collegiate debut with 12 points and seven rebounds in 37 minutes.

K.K. Deans led Ole Miss with 19 points and Madison Scott added 14.

USC led 54-48 before the Rebels rallied to take their first lead, 57-56 with 5:22 left. Ole Miss went ahead 62-60 on a Deans 3-pointer with 3:11 left and increased the advantage to four on a Sira Thienour layup with 2:49 remaining.

From there, Iriafen made two free throws at 2:23 and Smith followed with two more to tie at 2:03. A Deans jumper at 1:43 gave the Rebels their last lead. Two free throws by Talia Von Oelhoffen — a transfer from Oregon State — tied the game with 21 seconds remaining before Iriafen provided the margin of victory.

“I was proud of our team that when they took a lead we fought back and there were some really good things to take from this,” Gottlieb said.