TCU tops Notre Dame as Hailey Van Lith shines to reach fifth career Elite Eight
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — TCU's historic season survived a nail-biting 71-62 win over No. 3 seed Notre Dame on Saturday.
The win sends the Horned Frogs to their first Elite Eight in program history and continues a remarkable turnaround season for coach Mark Campbell after finishing 21-12 and missing the NCAA Tournament last season.
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In what was expected to be a back-and-forth game, TCU hung with the Irish even when they went down by nine points with 5:51 left in the third quarter. The Horned Frogs used the free throw line to cut into that third-quarter deficit, making 8-of-8 shots from the line and turning up the physicality.
Led by a wealth of experience from its transfer-heavy team, the Horned Frogs outscored the Irish 14-6 to end the third quarter and trailed by one point. Hailey Van Lith led TCU with 26 points and had a key steal and block to spark the third-quarter turnaround.
TCU will meet the winner of No. 1 seed Texas and No. 5 seed Tennessee in the Elite Eight with a trip to the first Final Four on the line.
When Campbell took over the program last season, he knew he had a rebuild coming. He took over a program that not only had never been to the Sweet 16 but hadn't made the NCAA Tournament in 14 straight seasons.
He decided to rely heavily on the transfer portal in hopes of jump-starting some success, and it paid off.
Van Lith took over in the second half, but center Sedona Prince was the catalyst inside on Saturday with 21 points and six rebounds. In fact, TCU got no points from its bench, all of its 71 points came from its starters, who were transfers.
All Van Lith has done in her career is win.
The graduate senior guard made the Elite Eight three times at Louisville, including one Final Four, an Elite Eight last year with LSU and is now the leading cog for the Horned Frogs this year.
Van Lith's offensive game was on full display, as she made 10-of-21 shots, but it was her defense that sparked a turnaround in the third quarter.
With TCU down nine points she made two straight baskets, forced a steal on Notre Dame's Sonia Citron and then had a block on the next defensive possession.
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Van Lith is known for her competitiveness and has been TCU's leader all season and showed up again Saturday, in a big way. The Washington native scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half.
The Irish struggled on the boards against TCU, losing the rebounding battle 38-32 to the Horned Frogs, but they also struggled to score inside and out.
Notre Dame shot just 31 percent from the field in the game and made just 3-of-15 shots from 3.
The Irish battled inside with TCU, but the size seemed to be too much as the Irish couldn't convert contested layups and couldn't open things up from deep in key moments.
This is the fourth year in a row that Notre Dame has lost in the Sweet 16 under coach Niele Ivey.
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