Spring Break
Dixon playing with confidence
After a rocky freshman year, point guard looks to improve in order to help team
Brittany Perotti
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Husky Hoopla
"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.
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.
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