When Lorin Dixon left the huddle following a timeout with 8:19 to go Sunday, she was urging the crowd of 5,734 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia to make some more noise, waving her arms.

Seconds later, with UConn trailing by four, Dixon made her own noise, poking the ball away from Georgetown’s Rubylee Wright at mid-court and taking it in for a layup. It was Dixon’s energy that created the top-ranked Huskies game-winning run as they knocked off Georgetown 68-63 in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16.

“You know. Lorin’s mom and dad know after watching that … Lorin’s proven to be a pouter at times,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the victory. “She gets down on herself at times and just mopes. For whatever reason, I don’t know what the answer is, this last month of her career has been the best I’ve seen of Lorin Dixon at practice every single day.

“That didn’t exist for three and a half years. Really, this is a great reflection of what she’s been doing for the last month.”

Dixon was the only player Auriemma used off the bench Sunday.

She finished with four points, including the go-ahead basket, four steals and four assists. Three of the steals led to consecutive UConn baskets when the Huskies went from down four to up two. She helped draw two fouls, the third and fourth, on Georgetown’s Tia Magee.

It seems it was UConn’s other senior who ignited the Huskies this time, although senior All-American Maya Moore did finish with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Recently Dixon and Moore, roommates and friends, finished their careers at home unbeaten, with Dixon, at 5-foot-4 most times the smallest player on the court, blocking a shot to serve as the pair’s last memory at Gampel Pavilion. Moore couldn’t stop talking about how it was Dixon’s block that she would remember.

The two of them, 149-3 and two-time national champions in their careers, will likely remember this, too.

“I think we are definitely quicker when Lorin comes in like that,” said Maya of the smaller lineup employed by Auriemma for the last 11-plus minutes of the game, without starting center Stef Dolson. “We feel like we have a smaller lineup, so we have to just pick the tempo up a little bit.”

“When I went in, coach was talking about just push up the defense,” Lorin said. “We went two-three, but we extended it 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.”

Dixon, making a rare appearance on the dais in the interview room, was asked where her future lies. She laughed, speaking of going to graduate school to earn her Master’s degree in psychology, saying people wouldn’t believe it if they knew where she started her career academically.

“Just her whole mindset, the way she’s carrying herself, what she expects from herself, the consistency she has every day …” Geno said. “Someone’s not going to change unless they’re ready to change.”

Meet the new Lorin Dixon.