March is her time: Hailey Van Lith leads 3rd different team to Elite Eight with TCU’s 72-61 win

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Just call her "Miss March."

Hailey Van Lith became the first player in college basketball history to reach the Elite Eight five times and take three different teams to that round when she scored 26 points in TCU’s 71-62 victory over Notre Dame in the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

She took Louisville there three times before transferring to LSU. The Tigers lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa last year in the Elite Eight. Now, she has helped TCU reach the regional final for the first time.

"The Miss March is deserved and earned,” TCU coach Mark Campbell said of the nickname. “In this era of the portal and the modern-day college athlete, and there are a lot of bad stories in the portal, but Hailey Van Lith leading three schools five times to the Elite Eight, Miss March, yes, she gets that title and she can own it."

With the game tied at 52 early in the fourth quarter, Van Lith took over. She scored five of the next six points for TCU to give the team the lead. Every run that the Fighting Irish made, Van Lith, who had 12 points in the final 10 minutes, and the Horned Frogs had an answer.

"I thought offensively Hailey really carried us in the second half," Campbell said. "Survived to play another game and compete on Monday night for a chance to go to a Final Four."

Van Lith said she told her teammates before the game that she was "going out there and play as hard as I can to practice with (them) tomorrow."

"At this point, I just have the ultimate confidence and faith in myself to compete at an intense level," she said.

The second-seeded Horned Frogs will play the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Texas and Tennessee.

The season has been a rebirth for the dynamic guard, who also is a prominent figure on social media in the era of name, image and likeness. Last week after the win over Louisville, Van Lith spoke about her mental health struggles, but made it clear she’s loving life now and happy to be helping others dealing with issues.

"I really think I had a very special platform this season to speak on my relationship with God and my faith how he's done such amazing works in my life. … Going into this game, I was really going to have no regrets and not put any pressure on myself to win and play with the joy that God gave me."

Van Lith wasn’t just scoring, but making defensive plays, too, against the Irish. When Notre Dame made a run to take a nine-point lead in the third quarter, she had two blocks and a steal to keep the lead from getting any bigger.

"Hailey's a dawg. She has that competitive edge," teammate Madison Conner said. "She's been in the Elite Eight every single year in college. it doesn't matter if she makes all her shots. “We like when you make all your shots. Defensively, we know we can count on her."

Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey is no stranger to Van Lith, having coached against her when the guard was at Louisville.

"She's a great player, three-level scorer. She saw the ball going in and she rose. Her energy and confidence was getting stronger play by play," Ivey said. "This is stage where great players emerge. She's a really great player."