Is Hailey Van Lith having the best TCU basketball season ever?
The deeper we get into March Madness, the more it becomes about great players having heroic moments.
On the biggest stage of the season TCU star Hailey Van Lith had her own special moment as she scored 26 points in the Horned Frogs’ 71-62 win over Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen on Saturday.
In the process of leading the Horned Frogs to the program’s first Elite Eight appearance, Van Lith also set TCU’s single-season record for points in a season. She already holds the single-season record for assists.
Van Lith also became the first male or female basketball player to lead three different teams to the Elite Eight, leading to media members asking head coach Mark Campbell if she should be called Miss March now.
“Miss March, I think it’s deserved and earned,” Campbell said. “In this era of the transfer portal and the modern day college athlete, there’s a lot of bad stories in the portal, but Hailey Van Lith leading three teams to five Elite Eights, Miss March, yes she gets that title and can own it.”
Van Lith couldn’t help, but crack a smile when word got back to her about the new nickname. But she was also quick to remind people that she’s been doing this all year.
“That’s cute, I can appreciate it,” Van Lith said. “I think I dominated all season this year. I love it, I appreciate the recognition and I do love to play in March. I think my mentality and my DNA is made for these moments and I’ll continue to deliver, but I think I did a good job of dominating all season.”
Van Lith’s mentality and competitive fire have reshaped the identity of the Horned Frogs from a talented group of transfers to a tight knit group that can overcome just about anything.
Keying the victory
In the third quarter Notre Dame was pushing TCU around. Sedona Prince struggled to set up post position and it felt like every single TCU drive to the rim was met with some sort of contact.
With the Horned Frogs trailing 46-37 midway through the third quarter, it was Van Lith that took control of the huddle during a timeout and challenged her teammates to meet Notre Dame’s physicality.
TCU outscored Notre Dame 34-16 from that moment.
“I just knew that if we made them take tough shots it was going to be in our favor,” Van Lith said of her speech. “Sometimes you have to be assertive and loud to get your teammates to bring their intensity up. When I need to get loud, I’ll get loud and they really respond to it, they love it.”
It helps that Van Lith was able to back up her words with her play on the court. She hit back-to-back buckets to jump start the run and Prince and Madison Conner followed her lead with big buckets of their own.
Don’t discount her defense
It wasn’t just on offense either, Van Lith came up with a steal and a block during the quarter while also playing tremendous defense on Notre Dame leading scorer Hannah Hidalgo during the third.
It was the ultimate example of putting the team on your back both physically and mentally and is just another example of how Van Lith’s impact goes beyond her impressive box score stats.
“One of the narratives with Hailey coming in was can she defend?” Campbell said. “She’s an elite defender, with us she laces them up and she wants to guard the other team’s best player and she does it. It’s not like you’re trying to hide Hailey.
“The competitive spirit she has to be our playmaker and then on the other end always being willing to square up against the other’s team’s best guards, she’s elite man. The kid’s competitive spirit and her DNA, the heart that is inside her chest is unmatched.”
After a performance like it’s fair to ask is Van Lith having the best individual season ever a TCU basketball player, male or female? Players like Kurt Thomas and Lee Nailon have strong cases, especially Thomas who led the NCAA in scoring and rebounding in 1994-95.
But Van Lith has both the individual and team success that already places her among TCU greats. The calls to have her jersey retired at Schollmaier Arena boomed throughout the fanbase after she scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half.
Van Lith, and her teammates, opened up new possibilities for what can be achieved in basketball in Fort Worth.
“You don’t really have words for it,” Van Lith said. “The way I’ve seen women’s basketball just take off at TCU, our last game against Louisville was almost sold out and extremely loud. That’s normally the environment you see men play in. To see that at TCU, which has never seen that before, it’s incredible.
“If they retire my jersey or don’t, it doesn’t change the way I feel about this school and what this year has meant to me.”
One thing’s for sure, if she wasn’t already, Van Lith secured her status as a TCU legend and she’s not done writing her story yet.
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM.
