No, she wasn’t worn down after second-seeded TCU’s 71-62 victory over Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen. Following the win, she was already talking about how excited she was to practice on Sunday, to keep TCU’s magical season going.
But Van Lith was tired at halftime. “Gassed,” she admitted. The Horned Frogs trailed by two points after 20 minutes, snapping their 26-game streak of leading at the break. “I was very tired. They were very physical with me. They weren’t letting me move without meeting me with an arm bar,” Van Lith said.
Yet, she found a burst in knowing how hard she worked to get the Horned Frogs to their furthest point in school history. Van Lith didn’t just think about the 36 games TCU had played up to Saturday’s contest, or the physical fall practices. She remembered summer workouts, and the three-a-days — yes, three-a-days — she put in as she prepared not only for TCU’s season but also to compete for Team USA’s 3×3 basketball team in the Paris Olympics.
Over the summer, her days would begin with TCU practices, usually around 7:30 or 8 a.m. Then, she’d play 3×3 with some of her Horned Frogs teammates, using the FIBA 3×3 ball. Van Lith would then drive from Fort Worth to Dallas and train with Irv Roland, a longtime basketball player development coach, and put in individual work and watch film. She would try to get home around 5 p.m.
“It sounds like a lot, and it is, but if you want to do things that are unusual, you have to do stuff like that,” Van Lith said. “It 100 percent paid off today.”
Her workload might have been unusual, but the result of her hours on the court, and in the weight and film room, have brought Van Lith to a place she’s actually very familiar with.
For the fifth time in five seasons, Van Lith will compete in the Elite Eight. From her first three years at Louisville, last year at LSU, and now at TCU, she became the first player in NCAA history — men’s or women’s — to reach this point of the tournament with three different teams.
TCU’s Hailey Van Lith becomes the first player in women’s NCAA Tournament history to lead three different teams to the Elite Eight.
◽️26 PTS
◽️9 REB
◽️4 ASTThe Horned Frogs knock off No. 3 seeded Notre Dame to make it out of the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. pic.twitter.com/LvRpu04ZjH
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 29, 2025
This point isn’t new for Van Lith. But it is for the Horned Frogs, who had never made a Sweet 16 before let alone a regional final.
TCU would not have made it this far if not for the 5-foot-7 guard scoring 18 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. Her 12 fourth-quarter points outscored the entire third-seeded Irish team.
TCU coach Mark Campbell and his top assistant Xavier Lopez recruited Van Lith while they were still assistants at Oregon. They’ve known Van Lith and her family since she was around 15. The coaches and Van Lith remained in touch with her over the years, and when she entered the transfer portal after last season, TCU was eager for the opportunity to bring her in. More importantly, she wanted to be in Fort Worth. She wanted to play point guard, a role many had said she was no longer capable of ...
