No school knows better than Georgetown what can happen when Philadelphia gets involved in an upset bid. And the same school that lost to Villanova in one of the greatest upsets in the history of men's basketball nearly turned the tables on Sunday, coming within minutes of stunning top-seeded and top-ranked Connecticut in the city that produced Rollie Massimino's team.

[+] Enlarge
Brian Pohorylo/Icon SMILorin Dixon came off the bench and hit a big shot for the Huskies.

Instead, Connecticut won a 68-63 decision and advanced to a sixth consecutive regional final. In so doing, it also showed it's more than Maya Moore, even on a day when the All-American finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Some initial thoughts on Connecticut's smallest margin of victory in the NCAA tournament during Moore's tenure.

Key player: Lorin Dixon. At one point in the second half, with Georgetown in the lead and in control of momentum, Dixon was responsible for back-to-back turnovers for the Huskies. At a different point in the senior's career -- perhaps at this point in her career if coach Geno Auriemma had more depth on his bench -- those miscues might have landed her in a chair next to associate coach Chris Dailey. Instead, Dixon stayed in the game and not only hit the go-ahead shot -- a baseline jumper from a player most known for her penetration -- with a little more than six minutes to play for the Huskies, but helped turned the tide on defense as Auriemma went to a smaller lineup down the stretch.

"Lorin Dixon just had an incredible effect on her team," Auriemma told ESPN's Holly Rowe after the game, as he talked about extending the defense in response to Georgetown going at center Stefanie Dolson. "God bless her."

Turning point: The game turned along with Dixon and the defense Connecticut played as a team in the game's final seven or eight minutes, but Bria Hartley deserves credit, as well, for the 3-pointer she hit to pull the Huskies within four points at 53-49. As she did against Baylor at the start of her freshman season, she rose to the occasion with a big shot when her team needed it.

Key player, part II: Kelly Faris. Georgetown nearly knocked off Connecticut, and its best player, one of the best scorers in the Big East, suffered through an arduous 3-of-17 shooting performance. Not all of that was Faris, of course, but when Connecticut's best one-on-one defender matched up with Sugar Rodgers, defense came out on top.

Key stat: Turnovers. Georgetown knocked off Tennessee early in the season on a neutral court by forcing 29 turnovers, including 20 out of the key trio of Meighan Simmons, Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson -- the players the Hoyas most needed to contain. They frustrated Connecticut at times during two meetings prior to the NCAA tournament that were closer than a lot of games the Big East champions played by doing the same, scoring more points off turnovers than Auriemma's team on both occasions. And both the turnovers and general frustration caused by Georgetown's aggressive, cohesive pressure helped the underdog nearly pull off a stunner.

What's next: Connecticut awaits the winner of Sunday's second game between No. 2 Duke and No. 3 DePaul. Whichever team advances, it will be another familiar foe for the Huskies, who faced first-round opponent Hartford and Georgetown in the regular season. The games against Duke and DePaul, played within the span of a week at the end of January and beginning of February, both finished as blowouts on the scoreboard, but the Blue Demons put up more of a fight along the way.