So Sweet: TCU women’s basketball beats Notre Dame to advance to Elite Eight
TCU continued its historic women’s basketball season with a 71-62 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday in the Sweet Sixteen at Legacy Arena.
TCU advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history and will face Texas on Monday at 6 p.m. (ESPN).
“That game was unbelievable,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “That’s what March Madness is all about. This was an incredible team effort, an incredible defensive effort. The fight and spirit this group this showed in the second half is what you have to do in March.”
It was the second win over Notre Dame this season as the Horned Frogs defeated Notre Dame, 76-68, on Nov. 29.
The Horned Frogs (34-3) overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half. Big 12 Player of the Year Hailey Van Lith was the catalyst for the comeback. Van Lith scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half and also set TCU’s single-season scoring record.
Van Lith also holds the single-season-record for assists as she continues to put together one of the best individual seasons in program history for a male or female basketball player.
“I’m super honored, very grateful to have done that,” Van Lith said. “Honestly there’s no way I would’ve done that without the personnel I have around me. Everybody on the court, their skill sets allow me to score. When we’re hitting shots team have to space and I’m pretty good when I have room.”
Before Van Lith got going things looked bleak for TCU as Notre Dame came out surging in the third quarter. Notre Dame used a 9-2 run to take a 46-37 lead with 5:51 remaining in the quarter, but the Horned Frogs didn’t fold against the pressure.
“We had been there before, we’ve already played them and we were down by a lot the last time,” Donovyn Hunter said. “We still came back (then). It was just a regroup moment. You have 15 minutes left of your season if you lose and none of us wanted to go home today so it was just flipping the mentality and being more aggressive.”
TCU outscored Notre Dame 14-6 in the final five minutes to enter the fourth only down 52-51. And just like in the first matchup, TCU dominated in the fourth, outscoring Notre Dame 20-10.
Van Lith had 12 points in the fourth and delivered the dagger with 1:10 remaining in the game when she slashed through the Notre Dame defense and finished with a right-handed layup to put the Horned Frogs ahead 69-60.
Sedona Prince was also massive in the win with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and six blocks. Hunter was once again the X-Factor, but this time it was on defense as she limited Notre Dame’s leading scorer Hannah Hidalgo to just 3-of-19 shooting from the field.
“We knew if we stopped her from getting going that chops off a lot of their gameplan,” Hunter said. “She’s a volume shooter, knowing she’s still going to shoot those shots no matter what we do defensively, I think our team did a good job of filling the gaps whenever she was driving. I think overall it was a good team effort.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM.
