TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
GoFrogs: Van Lith Transfers to TCU for 2024-25 Season
FORT WORTH – Hailey Van Lith, a five-time gold medalist with Team USA and 2023 All-American, has announced her decision to join TCU women's basketball for the 2024-25 season.
Arguably the top shooting guard in the transfer portal, Van Lith averaged 14.5 points, four rebounds and 2.8 assists per game over four seasons at Louisville (2020-23) and LSU (2023-24). Van Lith twice garnered All-ACC first team accolades with the Cardinals and was a finalist for the Drysdale Award in 2022-23. She has advanced to the Elite Eight in three consecutive seasons and reached the Final Four with Louisville her sophomore year.
A product of Wenatchee, Washington, Van Lith is the only active Division I player who has tallied at least 1,900 career points, 500 rebounds and 350 assists.
Van Lith will team up in a loaded backcourt featuring the likes of All-Big 12 guard Madison Conner, returning starters Agnes Emma-Nnopu (10.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and Una Jovanovic (7.1 ppg, 100 assists) and impact transfers Taylor Bigby and Maddie Scherr.
She is the fourth former five-star talent and McDonald's All-American head coach Mark Campbell has signed in the last two seasons alongside Scherr, Sedona Prince and Jaden Owens.
Van Lith is days removed from participating in a training camp with USA Basketball in a bid to make the 3x3 Women's National Team for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She was among the final eight players in consideration alongside established veterans Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard and Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
The 5-7 guard ranks fifth in total points accumulated in the FIBA World Rankings for Team USA. She helped the Americans win gold at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup last year and brought home a gold medal on the U18 team in 2019.
She arrived in the Bayou last spring tabbed the No. 1 overall transfer player by ESPN. Van Lith stepped away from shooting guard and ran point for the reigning national champion and preseason No. 1 Tigers. She averaged 11.6 points and 3.6 assists per game, helping guide LSU to a 31-6 overall record and run to the Elite Eight. Van Lith ranked eighth in the SEC in assists (118) and scored in double figures in 21 games even while playing outside of her natural position.
Van Lith's standout season came during the 2022-23 campaign in her final year at Louisville. She was one of only two players alongside Caitlin Clark to average at least 19 points, four rebounds and three assists per game. Van Lith averaged 19.7 points, 3.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game – all of which were career-highs – on her way to earning Associated Press and USBWA All-American accolades. Van Lith single-handedly willed the fifth-seeded Cardinals to a second straight Elite Eight, averaging 23.8 points in four NCAA Tournament games.
As a sophomore in 2021-22, Van Lith was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Wichita Regional in Louisville's run to the Final Four. She averaged 15.7 points per game and shot 46 percent from the floor during league play. She started all 30 games as a freshman, helping the Cardinals win an outright ACC regular season championship.
Over her three-year run at Louisville, Van Lith produced a stat line of 15.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 34 percent behind the arc. She scored 20-or-more points in 31 of her outings in cardinal and black.
She was graded the No. 7 overall prospect by ESPN HoopGurlz in the class of 2020 out of Cashmere High School in central Washington. Van Lith was selected as a finalist for the Naismith Trophy high school player of the year and swept Gatorade and MaxPreps Player of the Year honors in 2020. As a senior, she led Cashmere to a 24-1 record and a trip to the WIAA 2020 Girls Basketball Hardwood Classic 1A championship game, averaging 33.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. She scored more than 2,000 points in her high school career and broke every major school record prior to her senior year, including single-game records for points (52) and 3-point field goals made (12).
Van Lith will utilize the COVID-19 eligibility waiver and have one year to play one season as a graduate student at TCU.
