Hailey Van Lith gives emotional reflection of her basketball career

Hailey Van Lith just finished an accomplished, five-year career in college basketball spent with three programs. It wasn’t at all what she expected from start to finish but, in the end, was everything she needed to grow into who she is now.

Van Lith had the emotions come up in discussing her collegiate journey after No. 2 TCU lost 58-47 to No. 1 Texas in the Elite Eight on Monday. That started with her thinking about how she never expected to have stayed at this level for as long as she did. Still, she needed that entire time and all that came with it to learn from everything she dealt with, both on the floor and in some very personal aspects off of it.

“Yeah, um, my journey – it’s hilarious because, when I was like a sophomore, I was like, ‘Who would ever take their fifth year? Like, why would anyone want to be in college for five years?’. Well, that’s funny because here I am in college, my fifth year,” said Van Lith. “But, it was, it’s been, man. It’s been, certainly, a journey and nothing I expected.”

“It was hard. It was a lot of nights of being like, I feel like God has put this thing on my heart to be great but it’s not working out right now. And, a lot of times, I had to look at myself in the mirror and just be, like, ‘What do you want, Hailey? Like, what, who are you?’ – and I’m grateful for it,” Van Lith said as she got choked up. “I’m grateful for that fact that he gave me a hard journey because I would not be the woman I am sitting up here without it. And so, I really praise God for the struggle and the suffering. I praise him for the nights where, you know, I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I praise him for the nights that, um, I was on medication because I couldn’t sleep or eat. Um, and it’s painful to talk about it but it’s really how beautiful life is.”

Van Lith appeared in 132 games in her career at Louisville (’20-’23), LSU (’23-’24), and TCU (’24-’25). She, in that time, averaged 15.2 points (42.2% FG, 33.8% 3PT), in being just outside the Top-50 in career scoring with 2,616 total points scored, along with 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. That earned her multiple recognitions for awards and teams both in conference and nationally.

With that, Van Lith helped to take all three teams to success with a combined record of 146-31 (.825) with three conference titles won and all five teams making it to at least the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, including a Final Four with the Cards in 2022. That ended with TCU, led by Van Lith, in her lone year there, as Big 12 Player of the Year, as the Horned Frogs had their all-time best season at 34-4 overall in winning both conference titles and making it to the Elite Eight as a No. 2 seed.

This year’s experience is what capped off the career of Van Lith. It was as special as any other season she had because of her team and program, her family, and how it completed that maturing for her as a player and person.

“I’m sitting up here now with women that I love and a coach that I love and a team that I love and we aren’t even sad about losing. We’re sad that we aren’t going to see each other, probably, next week,” Van Lith said.

“And, my family? Another reason I’m grateful for this group is because my family is a lot. I love them to death, they are my heartbeat, I live and die for my family but they are definitely a lot, um, and they have just welcomed my family and loved them and built relationships with them and that’s not common. That’s definitely not common in, in every program. And so, it’s a testament to the people that I play with, the people that coach me but also, you know, my family. My family kept me here when I was going through hard times and, um, they know that. They know what they mean to me, um, and I know that I’ve grown in life and, and they have grown with me. The text that I got from my dad today was, um, before the game was, ‘The sun is going to rise tomorrow no matter if you win or lose so go out there and have fun’. And, that’s a lot of growth for him. That’s a lot of growth for me to accept that text from him. So, um, love my family and I can’t wait to go see them after this.”

Van Lith came a long way from playing in Louisville to Baton Rouge to Fort Worth. She wouldn’t change any of it from her half-decade in the sport, though, because of who she’s now leaving it as.

“My journey has been crazy,” said Van Lith. “I’m super grateful for it. Wouldn’t have had it any other way.”