‘Thorne’ in UCI’s side

IRVINE — A pregame hug made Charli Turner Thorne feel old, when the Arizona State coach greeted her former player, Molly Tuter, UC Irvine’s coach.

But it didn’t take long for the 40-year-old Thorne to get an extra kick on the sideline, as her Sun Devils made sure to give Tuter some gray hairs early.

Arizona State, ranked 10th in the country, jumped out to a 20-point lead with 12 minutes, 42 seconds left in the first half and never looked back. The Sun Devils won the nonconference game, 75-46, Thursday night at the Bren Events Center, extending their winning streak to five games.

“I’m used to going up against my mentors, so it’s like I feel old,” Thorne said. “I’m not that old, right?”

Thorne still looked the same to Tuter, who played for Thorne during her senior year in 1996-97. The petite Thorne, with her dirty blonde hair, wore one of her signature short skirts, with a tight, long coat, allowing Tuter to remember her days in Tempe.

Ones she probably doesn’t want to rekindle even though she became the Sun Devil’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,374 points.

Arizona State’s program at the time “was in terrible shape,” Tuter said. The same could be said about UCI’s today.

The way they’re playing, the Anteaters (2-6) could finish below .500 and possibly win less than 10 games for fifth time in the last six years. Thorne understands what Tuter is experiencing, because when she took over at ASU in Tuter’s last year, the program didn’t win nine games in any of the previous three years.

Thorne’s turned things around as the Sun Devils (9-1) the last two years have advanced to the NCAA Tournament, going as far as the Sweet 16.

“I’m very proud of Molly,” said Thorne, who went through four years at ASU before getting the program above .500. “From our first conversation [while at ASU], she said, ‘I want to coach. I want to coach.’”

Tuter’s coaching and she’s had her hands full since taking over at UCI for former Coach Mark Adams in 2004.

UCI is 19-39 under Tuter and it has been inconsistent, and the Sun Devils took advantage. An up-tempo style created problems for the Anteaters throughout, as they didn’t get back on defense during a horrid first half, where they shot 23.3% from the field and ASU made 61.3% of its shots to go ahead, 44-19.

The Sun Devils showcased their balanced attack, with four players in double figures. Leading the way was 6-foot forward Emily Westerburg, who finished with 13 points on six-of-six shooting.

Westerburg knew of Tuter’s playing days in Tempe. The coaching matchup of former player up against former coach intrigued her.

“I found out on my own just looking through the media guide,” Westerburg said. “I just thought it was really cool [because] of all the history and that [Tuter] got to play for [our coach]. I thought it was awesome.”

For the Sun Devils it was, but Tuter chalked up the game against a high-caliber opponent as a good experience for her as a coach and her team.

“I’m learning from what she did and how she built that program,” said Tuter of getting the most out of her players. “I’m trying build this [program] the way she built it there.”

It’s going to take time, maybe more than at ASU, for Tuter to elevate the Anteaters. First she’s trying to figure out what happened to her offense. After playing UCLA tough in a 66-62 loss at home on Dec. 4, UCI’s offense disappeared against ASU.

Guard Angie Ned finished with 11 points, but it took her 15 field-goal attempts and three free-throw attempts to end up with the total. Forward Naomi Halman added 11 points.

“Arizona State’s defense,” Tuter explained for her team finishing 18-for-61 from the floor. “We were rushing some things. We didn’t knock down our first couple of shots and that kind of got in our head a little bit.

“But Arizona State has a great defense and that’s one of the reasons why I accepted the game when [Thorne] offered to come out and play us.”

Thorne showed her protégé what experience could do for a program.

Nonconference

Arizona State 75,

UC Irvine 46

ASU -- Westerburg 13, Simon 13, Johnson 12,. Orsillo 12, Noe 8, January 7, Engelbrecht 4, Murphy 2, Thompson 2, Pariseau 2.

3-pt. goals -- January 1, Westerburg 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None.

UCI -- Ned 11, Halman 11, Zdenek 10, Duda 9, Zdenek 3, Maessen 2.

Fouled out -- Halman.

Halftime -- 44-19, ASU