TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
Van Lith, Conner Selected in 2025 WNBA Draft
Van Lith drafted by Chicago Sky with No. 11 overall pick
FORT WORTH – Hailey Van Lith was selected with the No. 11 overall pick by the Chicago Sky, while Madison Conner went in the third round to the Seattle Storm in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
They are the second and third WNBA Draft choices in program history. Prior to Monday evening, TCU last produced a WNBA Draft pick in 2005 when Sandora Irvin went No. 3 overall to the Phoenix Mercury.
Van Lith was the first Big 12 player to come off the board. The Storm snared Conner with the 29th pick.
TCU was one of only five programs to produce multiple draft picks alongside UConn, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Alabama.
Van Lith departed TCU with 2,616 points, 698 rebounds, 579 assists and 171 games started to her name. She became the NCAA record holder for most games started and minutes played (5,692) following her first and only season in Fort Worth in 2024-25. Van Lith, from Wenatchee, Wash., led her teams to a 145-31 combined overall record across her five-year collegiate career. She became the first and only player in the history of the sport to lead three separate schools to the Elite Eight in March upon staking TCU to its debut appearance in an NCAA Regional Final.
Her 2024-25 campaign was the greatest single season a TCU basketball player has engineered by every measure. Van Lith was tabbed an All-American by all four major media organizations. The 5-9 guard swept Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Year accolades and was named the league's tournament MVP. She averaged 17.9 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game while concluding the year with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Van Lith broke TCU's single-season records for points scored (683) and assists (204). She ended the spring as one of only three players in the country in 2024-25 to record 600 points and 200 assists.
Conner heads to the pacific northwest as the top shooter in her draft class. She led the NCAA in 3-pointers (128) and ranked second nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.4) in 2024-25. Conner was the lone D1 player to finish in the top 10 in 3-pointers, 3-pointers per game and 3-point percentage (10th, .449) in the final NCAA statistical rankings. She knocked down four-or-more 3-pointers in an NCAA-leading 19 game. Conner shattered her own program for most 3-pointers in a season and departed campus ranked second on the Big 12 single-season record book in the category.
Her career arc in the Metroplex was a story of redemption. Conner averaged five points and 12 minutes per game across three seasons at Arizona from 2020-23. She subsequently became an Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award finalist, All-Big 12 first team player and owner of the best career 3-pointers per game average (3.5) in the history of the Big 12 upon transferring to TCU. Conner exits Funky Town with the third-highest career scoring average (16.4 ppg) by any player in program history. Her 227 combined 3-pointers across her two-year run are the fourth-most ever recorded by a Horned Frog.
