BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- With sweat on her forehead and blood on her knee, Hailey Van Lith raised her fists to the ceiling in triumph as the clock expired in TCU's Sweet 16 matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday. The game was over, but her season, her career was not.
Van Lith scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds to send TCU to a 71-62 victory over Notre Dame and into the first Elite Eight in program history. Van Lith set TCU's single-season scoring record (663) and her 26 points were a single-game NCAA tournament record for the program. She single-handedly outscored Notre Dame 12-10 in the final quarter.
"I was going to go out there and play as hard as I could to practice with these girls tomorrow," Van Lith said.
The storied career that launched at Louisville and stalled at LSU will get another chapter at TCU.
"Going into this game, I was really just going to go and have no regrets," said Van Lith, the Big 12 player of the year and newcomer of the year. "I wasn't going to put any pressure on myself to necessarily win. I was going to go out there and have fun and play with the joy that God gave me."
With 3:29 to go in the third quarter, Van Lith backpedaled as Hannah Hidalgo charged toward the rim. Notre Dame's player of the year candidate rose for a layup with the Irish leading TCU by five. Van Lith held her ground, reached out with her left hand and blocked Hidalgo's shot. Standing under the basket, she grabbed the ball. Van Lith paused. She gave Hidalgo a look. Only then did she deliver the outlet pass.
"I think Hailey's a dog, overall," TCU senior Madison Conner said. "Regardless of if it's on the offensive end or on the defensive end, she's going to do anything it takes to win. She has that competitive edge."
It's an edge honed through experience.
This will be Van Lith's fifth Elite Eight appearance with her third team. She's the first player -- in men's and women's basketball -- to achieve that feat. Van Lith spent the first three seasons of her career at Louisville, where she scored 1,553 points. She played in three Elite Eight games and the 2022 Final Four with the Cardinals. Last season, Van Lith joined LSU and was part of the Tigers' Elite Eight run.
"Five Elite Eights at three different schools is insane," TCU coach Mark Campbell said.
Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said she could feel Van Lith grabbing the momentum as the game continued.
"I feel like she saw the ball going in and she kinda rose," Ivey said. "You could tell her energy, her confidence was getting stronger, play by play. I thought she made some really good defensive plays as well. This is that stage where great players emerge. I thought she had a really complete game."
The 5-foot-9 graduate student also won a bronze medal with Team USA in 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics over the summer. She is a projected first-round pick in next month's WNBA draft.
TCU held Notre Dame to 31.9% shooting from the floor and 20% from 3-point range. The Irish's typically potent backcourt of Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron shot a combined 10-of-42 from the floor. Notre Dame's 10 points in the fourth quarter were its fewest in any quarter all season.
"No offense to them, but it was really nothing they did to alter us," Miles said. "Obviously Sedona is in there. She was blocking shots, that's one factor, but we literally were just missing shots that we normally make and that's going to happen at times."
TCU center Sedona Prince contributed 21 points, six rebounds and six blocks for the Horned Frogs.
TCU will face 1-seed Texas on Monday.