BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — You don’t invite a fight if you don’t know with absolute certainty you’re the top dog. And Hailey Van Lith is all dawg.
“At the end of the day, I think in my DNA I impact winning,” Van Lith said on Friday, an understatement on a collegiate career still acquiring accolades.
Playing the Notre Dame program known as “Guard U,” the fifth-year guard showed out as the best one on the floor. In the first quarter, she put on moves to beat Hannah Hidalgo on the baseline. In the third, she stood stock still in a silent flex of a brick wall after blocking Hidalgo's drive into the lane.
By the time Van Lith threw her arms in the air at the final buzzer and chest-bumped Sedona Prince at halfcourt, she had blood on her left elbow and right knee.
“Hailey’s our competitor,” Prince said. “She’s in the fight. If you’ve ever seen her arms all season, it’s every game [they’re scratched up] and she loves it. She is ready to fight and fight out wins for us.”
Van Lith led all scorers with 26 points in a 71-62 win that extended the program’s record tournament run to the Elite Eight. She turned the aggression up in the fourth quarter when she scored 12 points, disrupted the Irish defensively and led a 20-10 frame that ended Notre Dame’s season.
“Hailey is a dawg, regardless if it's the offensive end or defensive end,” Madison Conner said. “Regardless, she is going to do anything it takes to win. She has a competitive edge.”
A year ago at LSU, Van Lith drew the tall task of primarily guarding Caitlin Clark in the Elite Eight loss to Iowa. Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, went off for 41 points and Van Lith took the brunt of the blame.
On Saturday, she had a steal and a block and contributed to a long 10-of-44 day for Notre Dame’s heralded guard trio of Hidalgo, Miles and Sonia Citron. The 31.9% outing as a team is the worst of Notre Dame’s season, barely edging out its November loss to TCU. That was Notre Dame’s first loss of the year.
“One of the narratives with Hailey coming into the year at the highest level is can she defend?” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said. “I mean, gosh dang, she is an elite defender. I don't ...
