Dixon playing with confidence

After a rocky freshman year, point guard looks to improve in order to help team

By: Brittany Perotti

Posted: 11/14/08

Three years ago, Lorin Dixon was the buzz in the high school basketball world. Sites like Rivals.com kept readers posted on her progress.

In fact, though only a sophomore, Dixon scored the highest on the SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) test that year, which measures all-around athleticism.

She averaged 17 points a game in high school.

And she was Miss New York Basketball in 2007.

So when she joined her former Christ the King teammate Tina Charles this past season, people expected her to shine.

There were moments where she did, as in the countless times this past season when she blew past defenders.

But other times, Dixon said, her playing in a game seemed to put the Huskies at a four-on-five disadvantage on offense.

This past season, she averaged 2.1 points per game. On the road against Rutgers, some said she looked scared.

She said that when she made mistakes, she would get frustrated, perpetuating a cycle of more mistakes and turnovers.

In the Final Four, Ketia Swanier got into foul trouble early and Dixon was called on to play. Coach Geno Auriemma said it was in those situations in particular, that the team needed her to step up.

"Last year, I felt like I let myself down, my team down, even my family," Dixon said.

Her self-perceived failure became her motivation to work even harder this summer. Her coaches and teammates have noticed a difference since the season ended.

"Lorin made some big strides," said assistant coach Shea Ralph. "And I think that - I know that - she's had a lot of stuff going on and she had to go through a lot of things and she's had to learn a couple things the hard way. But I think sometimes that's also the most effective way."

In fact, Ralph said that hurting her teammates, having to face them and let them know that you let them down, is one of the hardest things. It is something that she said has affected Dixon.

But that has translated to more dedication in everything, not just basketball.

"You can see the difference in her all around, school-wise - she is always here and she wants to be better," Ralph said. "She wants to be dependable. She wants to be a leader. She's working on that vocally and by example in conditioning and weights and pick-up. And she's working on her game separately from what we do."

This year, with Swanier gone, the spot for a starting guard is open. Dixon said Auriemma wants her to become more of a leader on the floor, to control the team more and keep them settled in the game. To do so, she said she has to watch unforced turnovers and hit the open shots.

And Auriemma has noticed the change in her, as well.

He attributes at least some of that to Ralph's arrival.

"There was a point in time I think where Lorin just felt like 'Isn't there anybody on my side?' and the answer was 'No, there isn't because there's just too many things that you don't do that you need to be doing,'" Auriemma said. "And now she comes in with like a clean slate. And now she's hanging around Shea all the time.

"But when Shea cracks the whip it's like, 'Oh, it's not all those other guys, it's me.'

"How many coaches you going to worry about before you realize it's you? So it's been really, really good for her and she's really responded."

In the team's first exhibition game against Stonehill, Dixon played with a confidence that she did not consistently show this past season. She drove to the basket and sprinted past the defense.

In 12 minutes, she scored five points.

It was more than she had done almost every other game she had played in, aside from ones against Old Dominion and West Virginia.

"She's always our Energizer Bunny," said forward Maya Moore. "I think she'll always bring that. And it's just a matter of getting her to think, I think, as fast as her body moves. She's quick. It's just a matter of her making good decisions."

Ralph agreed, saying that Dixon is "too good not to have a real role. She has too much to offer."

"I'm just ready to play this year," Dixon said.