Hailey Van Lith makes NCAA Tournament history in win over Notre Dame
This season has been historic for Hailey Van Lith, who became the first TCU women’s basketball player to win Big 12 Player of the Year, and on Saturday, she did something never before done in NCAA history.
Van Lith became the first player, male or female, to lead three programs to the Elite Eight with TCU’s 71-62 victory over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
Van Lith was the game’s leading scorer in the win with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Despite a big performance, she praised her teammate Sedona Prince in an interview with ESPN following the win.
“Man, it just took riding out their runs, they’re a great team, they’re explosive, but we know we have people who can be explosive as well. So our model for the game was composure,” said Van Lith, “They were trying to mix it up with different things. They had a lot of different personnel, and I just tried to take what they gave me. Sedona played huge today, man, she dominated in the paint, she didn’t settle, she really was the one for us.”
TCU will play the winner of the Sweet 16 game between Texas and Tennessee in the program’s first-ever Elite Eight appearance.
