UConn women hang on to advance at Temple

It was as simple as switching to small ball.

Trailing Georgetown by seven points with 11 minutes, 13 seconds remaining Sunday afternoon, Connecticut took out 6-foot-5 center Stefanie Dolson and stuck with reserve guard Lorin Dixon the rest of the way. That left forward Maya Moore, at 6-foot, as the Huskies' tallest player on the Liacouras Center court.

It was a move that put UConn game away from another appearance in the Women's Final Four.

Sparked by a 14-2 run, the Huskies escaped with a 68-63 victory in the Philadelphia Regional semifinal.

The win sent top-seeded Connecticut (35-1) back into the NCAA tournament's round of eight for the sixth consecutive season and the 17th time in school history.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Connecticut will meet second-seeded Duke, a 70-63 winner over DePaul, at the Liacouras Center.

The Hoyas (24-11) reached the Sweet 16 for the second time in school history.

Connecticut swept three games against its Big East foe this season.

"With Stephanie, we didn't feel like there was a really good matchup for her," Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said of taking Dolson out. "It wasn't like they were letting us get her the ball easily in the post anyway. So it was going to be a walk-it-up kind of game. That's what they wanted.

"So one of the coaches said, 'We ought to just take Stefanie out.' "

Connecticut reinserted Bria Hartley even though the freshman point guard had four fouls. Hartley, however, was moved off the ball. That enabled Dixon, who came in two minutes earlier, to penetrate at will through Georgetown's defense.

The New York native scored all four of points during the decisive run.

After stripping the Hoyas' Rubylee Wright, Dixon hit a layup to close the gap to 53-51 with 8:03 to play. She followed that up assisting on Connecticut's next basket. Then her jumper with 6:19 left gave the Huskies a 55-53 advantage and the lead for good.

"She attacks with the ball better than anyone on our team," said Moore, a senior all-American forward who finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds. "So that speed and her ability to get in the paint allows us to get open shots."

Dixon's presence also let Connecticut extend its defense against what had been a hot-shooting Georgetown team.

"When I went in, Coach was talking about pushing up the defense," Dixon said. "We went two-three, where we extended it. And that's always something that he wanted us to get them going faster.

"That's basically what I went in with, just trying to go in there and bring energy to the team."

After the Huskies went to the small lineup, the Hoyas made just 4 of 15 shots and committed six turnovers.

"That was the little segment where it fell apart," said Georgetown forward Tia Magee. "We couldn't get a layup. We couldn't get a shot and they just turned it on. We just couldn't react."

Georgetown guard Sugar Rodgers struggled against the Huskies. The sophomore made just 3 of 17 field goals to finish with 11 points.

Hoyas guard Monica McNutt (17 points) and Magee (12 points, 13 rebounds) were Georgetown's other double-figure scorers.

Hartley finished with 17 points, six assists and five turnovers for Connecticut.