U.S. national team too much for ASU women

For a while, the Arizona State women looked like world beaters. Reality took about 15 minutes to set in.

Even Mercury All-Star Diana Taurasi looked like her old WNBA self with a technical in the first half and joking with reporters afterward.

“I was trying to inspire the team, get a spark,” said Taurasi, who had to sit out two games during the WNBA season after a run-in with referees. “I think we went on a 40-0 run after the technical. It was strictly for the team. I haven’t gotten one in awhile so … and you don’t get fined in college. It worked out well for everyone.”

Six U.S. national team members scored in double figures, including a 13-point, nine-rebound night from Lisa Leslie, just four months removed from giving birth, and they coasted to a 82-48 win Thursday night in an exhibition before 3,526 at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Sun Devils actually led for most of the first 15 minutes and trailed by just eight, 34-26, at the break after the national team scored the last nine points of the half and shut out ASU for the last 4:55.

“Actually I was a little bit worried at halftime that we were actually maybe going to win the game,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Because then we would think we are better than we are. No worries there.”

ASU was within six early in the second half before Leslie, Kara Braxton and Kara Lawson turned it on with a 21-4 run.

“This was a great opportunity and this was a great practice game for us going into North Carolina,” Turner Thorne said more seriously about the season opener on Sunday. “We are going to have our hands full in a few days playing that game.”

The national team, which is a de facto WNBA all-star squad, is just nine women deep but clearly had the stamina despite most of its players coming off a pro season and then an international tour to qualify for next year’s Beijing Olympics.

“It was an awesome experience like we thought from the get-go,” preseason all-Pac-10 pick Briann January said. “They’ve made a name for women’s basketball and just to be on the court with them was a great opportunity.”

It was a great opportunity early on as the Sun Devils made seven of their first nine shots. And when Dymond Simon — 10 months removed from injuring her anterior cruciate ligament —– hit a jumper with 13:08 left in the first half, giving the Sun Devils a 15-8 lead.

Although the national team crept back, taking the lead on Taurasi’s 3-pointer with 8:40 left, ASU stayed close.

Its dream lasted a full 15 minutes — Danielle Orsillo’s bank shot bounced in with 4:55 left in the first half and gave ASU a 26-25 lead before the national team took control.

But Turner Thorne, walking gingerly after having an appendectomy on Sunday night, wasn’t so worried about the score as she was getting some time in for her squad.

“We looked at some things, we looked at some combinations,” she said. “Some young players got some good minutes.”