Wenatchee’s Hailey Van Lith, TCU Advance in Women’s NCAA Tourney

Wenatchee native Hailey Van Lith, who played prep hoops in Cashmere, WA has accomplished many milestones in a basketball odyssey that has taken her to the Olympics and two storied college basketball programs.  She is helping build a winning culture as a graduate student in her final season of college basketball at TCU.

On Saturday, Van Lith scored 26 points and had nine rebounds in TCU's  71-62 victory over Notre Dame as ESPN reports.

"Going into this game, I was really just going to go and have no regrets," said Van Lith. "I wasn't going to put any pressure on myself to necessarily win. I was going to go out there and have fun and play with the joy that God gave me."

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With the win, she also reached a benchmark no other player in college basketball has--Van Lith will play in her fifth round of Elite Eight on Monday in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.  No player, male or female has done that.

Van Lith has also reached her fifth round of Elite Eight in the tourney,  and with three different programs.  Twice with Louisville, where she began her Division 1 career.  Another appearance came with LSU last season in the NCAA round of eight teams.  Now at TCU, Van Lith and her team mates hope to advance to the Final Four, which would be her 2nd.

A great season for Van Lith will continue on Monday, (March 31st) in Birmingham, AL. when #2 seeded TCU (34-3) faces the regional top seed, Texas (34-3) at 4pm on ESPN.

Van Lith was chosen Big 12 Conference Player and Newcomer of the year.  She is averaging 17.9 points and 5.5 assists a game.

In the win, she called on her experience to help lead a Horned Frogs comeback after trailing at half time and much of the third quarter.  Van Lith scored 12 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter, outscoring Notre Dame 12-10 herself.  The Irish's 10 points was the lowest scoring quarter Notre Dame had all season in which they were ranked #1 in country, prior to a late season funk.