In the team’s first Sweet 16 appearance in school history, TCU Women’s Basketball earned a hard-fought win against Notre Dame.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — TCU Women’s basketball defeated No. 3 seeded Notre Dame 71-62, sending the team to its first Elite Eight appearance in school history.
The Horned Frogs trailed at halftime but came out strong in the second half. Hailey Van Lith emerged as the game’s top scorer with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. She also broke TCU’s single-season scoring record.
Sedona Prince added 21 points for the Horned Frogs (34-3), who advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Next up is Texas or Tennessee on Monday night.
With the game tied at 52 early in the fourth, Van Lith took over. She scored five of the next six points for TCU to give the team the lead. Van Lith scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half.
Van Lith, who started her career at Louisville before transferring to LSU last season and then TCU this past year, is on her way to a regional final for the fifth time.
The 23-year-old Van Lith is TCU’s leading scorer at 17.6 points a game and was both the Big 12 player and newcomer of the year. She went to a Final Four and two Elite Eight games in three seasons with Louisville before going to another Elite Eight last season with LSU.
Notre Dame (28-6) was trying to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019.
Liatu King scored 17 points for the Irish. Hannah Hidalgo had 15 and Olivia Miles finished with 10. But the star backcourt was a combined 6 for 29 from the field.
Notre Dame got off to a slow start before rallying for a 35-33 halftime lead. Neither team led by more than four points in the second quarter.
The teams met in November in a Thanksgiving tournament in the Cayman Islands, and the Horned Frogs came away with a victory after rallying from a 14-point deficit. The Irish were missing Maddy Westbeld and Liza Karlen for that game.
TCU’s roster has been rebuilt through the transfer portal since Mark Campbell became their coach two years ago when the Horned Frogs were coming off a 1-17 record in Big 12 play.
Saturday’s game against Notre Dame marked the program’s first appearance in the Sweet 16.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
