COLLEGE BASKETBALL : NCAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : USC Is Good Enough : Women’s Mideast Regional: Trojans defeat Portland, 77-62, in sub-par showing.

Ayesha Shields, 8-year-old daughter of USC guard Karleen Shields, had her game face on before her mother’s team took the floor to play Portland in a first-round NCAA tournament game Wednesday night.

Asked how her mom’s team would fare, she replied, with furrowed brows: “We’re going to beat ‘em up, tear their heads off and make ‘em cry.”

Unhappily for USC, Mama Shields wasn’t nearly that prepared, nor were most of her teammates.

USC defeated Portland, 77-62, at the Sports Arena, but it was a second consecutive sub-par outing for Coach Cheryl Miller’s Pacific 10 Conference champions, and Miller again wondered about her team’s intensity.

Portland (17-12) never led, but the Pilots were never out of it until the final minutes.

USC (23-3) advances to the second round to play George Washington (23-7) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.

“I don’t believe we took them lightly, but we certainly didn’t match their intensity,” Miller said.

Tina Thompson, the Pac-10 freshman of the year, said the Trojans got by on pure ability.

“This team could have beaten us. . . . Our athleticism kept us in the game,” she said.

Miller was so upset with her team’s conference-ending victory over Oregon State on Saturday that she stormed out of the Lyon Center without talking to the media. As her team proceeds in the tournament’s Mideast Regional, she’s confronted with two deficiencies:

--Her team has lost its three-point shooting touch. The Trojans made four of 19 three-point shots on Wednesday, with four airballs, after five of 17 on Saturday. USC entered the game shooting 32% from three-point range. Twenty-five NCAA teams made more than 36% of their three-pointers this season.

--Against a much slower team Wednesday, USC’s more talented, more athletic players were plodders, never mustering a single offensive surge.

In fact, only once did Miller’s team execute a play with sizzle. With 6:40 to play, on a breakaway, Lisa Leslie made a great pass to Nicky McCrimmon, who made a great pass to Thompson, who scored on a falling-down layup.

Thompson was fouled and made the free throw to give USC a 61-52 lead.

That put the crowd of 1,458 in the game for the first time, but it didn’t faze the Pilots, recent upset winners of the West Coast Conference tournament.

Stacy Johanson scored on a jump shot and Deana Lansing made a three-point shot to put Portland within 61-57 with 5:45 to play.

But USC’s inside duo of Leslie and Thompson, aided by point guard McCrimmon’s passing, took over down the stretch against the rapidly tiring Pilots. Portland made only two shots in the last 4:48.

Miller expressed hope afterward that her team’s outside shooting will improve when its inside game becomes more productive.

“We’ve got to understand our game is to get the ball inside,” she said. “When we do that effectively. it’ll open up our outside game.”

Leslie chalked it up to a rare opponent.

“All the Pac-10 teams we play, we pretty much know 50% of the time which shooter’s going to get the ball,” she said.

“Tonight, all their players shot well. On defense, we were a step behind the whole game.”

Leslie, who played 30 minutes, led all scorers with 26 points. She had 12 rebounds and Thompson had 14, with 20 points. McCrimmon had 16 points and 10 assists.

Karleen Shields made one of seven shots and had three turnovers.