LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Gottlieb could easily be heard over the fallen hush of a sparse first-quarter crowd at the Galen Center. As the USC women’s basketball head coach called a timeout, trailing 13-10 with just over a minute left in the period, she exclaimed to the five Trojans on the floor.

“What are you doing?” she said as her players hustled to the bench. USC couldn’t halt the frantic Portland press. Nor could the Trojans connect from behind the arc, missing seven straight 3-point attempts to begin the game. Gottlieb needed a spark to avoid an upset alert scare against Portland, which lost to Montana State by double digits a little over a week ago, and keep No. 11 USC on track after its loss to No. 2 South Carolina over the weekend.

Luckily for Gottlieb, she has the top freshman in th

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