Dixon's role for UConn beyond definition

It was a simple question, yet Lorin Dixon paused, then smiled before answering it.

On Monday, the Connecticut reserve guard was asked, "What's your role on this team?"

"I get that question a lot," Dixon chuckled inside the locker room. "But it's hard to answer."

That's because when she was a senior at Christ the King (N.Y.), everyone expected her to become a lethal scorer at Connecticut. The former high school McDonald's All-American was supposed to use her fleet feet to routinely produce double-figure point totals.

Instead, Dixon, now a Huskies senior, has averaged just 2.5 points in mostly a reserve role throughout her college career.

"I happen to be a leader out here," Dixon said of her role. "Coming off the bench, I have a change of pace, bringing energy.

"I guess I'm more a defensive threat. So on defense, I'm trying to get things going. And offense, just drive and making sure people get shots."

Her ability to excel in her unglamorous role is why two-time defending national champion Connecticut is a win away from a third consecutive Final Four appearance. The top-seeded Huskies (35-1) face the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils (32-3) in Tuesday's 7 p.m. Philadelphia Regional final at the Liacouras Center.

Dixon enabled the Huskies to escape with a 68-63 Sweet 16 victory over Georgetown on Sunday. The 5-foot-4 speedster sparked Connecticut's game-deciding 15-2 run.

After stripping the Hoyas' Rubylee Wright, Dixon's layup closed the gap to 53-51 with 8 minutes, 3 seconds to play. Penetrating at will, she followed up by 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.

Her presence also allowed Connecticut to extend its defense, which cooled off hot-shooting Georgetown. Dixon made 2 of 3 shot attempts to finish with four points, four assists and four steals in 22 minutes of action.

"Lorin brings so much energy, just her personality, her style of play," Connecticut senior forward Maya Moore said. "I think a perfect definition of what she can do was [Sunday], coming in bringing the defensive energy and getting us going.

"When she is playing confident with the urgency we have as seniors, you can't really replace that."

But Dixon didn't buy into her role until this season. That's because, she didn't exactly know what her role was.

During his first three seasons at Connecticut, the 2007 New York High School Miss Basketball started in just 14 of the 103 games she appeared in. She averaged just 2.4 points, 1.8 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 15.3 minutes.

"So a lot of years, it was hard for me," Dixon said of her limited role. "And it definitely hurt my confidence. It went up and down for a while."

A lot of that had to do with her poor long-range shooting.

She only shot 16.7 percent from three-point range as a freshman. The following season, her three-point shooting dropped to 15.4 percent.

While at Christ the King, Dixon never had to worry about shooting threes. Often quicker than her opponents, she would routinely blow past defenders and score uncontested layups.

But once Dixon blew past a defender in college, often there was a towering defender waiting in her path. On other occasions, defenders, fully aware of her shooting woes, let her take open shots from the perimeter.

"Definitely at Christ the King, it was a totally different level," she said. "That's high school. This is college. At this level, especially here, everybody is great. So it was a little bit of a hard adjustment."

Though it doesn't always show statistically, she made the adjustment during the offseason.

Realizing that the team needed a spark plug, Dixon focused on being a vital role player and a better shooter.

Dixon started out by taking 500 jump shots a week. By the end of the offseason, she was taking more than a 1,000 a week.

But still not a key part of the offense, Dixon averages just 2.5 shots this season.

She has, however, posted career highs in scoring (three points per game), rebounds (2.5), total assists (101), total steals (27) and minutes played (21.7 per game).

And she relishes her role.

"On offense, I just want to be a point guard, a legit point guard," Dixon said. "Just go in there and dish the ball. Don't turn it over. Get [center] Steph [Dolson] open shots. Get our shooters open shoots. That makes the game easier for everybody."