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Hailey Van Lith is playing well with TCU women's basketball to begin the 2024-25 season. It is clear that Van Lith has found her footing once again following a challenging 2023-24 campaign at LSU. Van Lith emerged as a star with Louisville before transferring to LSU for the 2023-24 season, but she saw a decline last year. The TCU star recently discussed her previous LSU women's basketball season on ESPN.
“I mean, obviously outside looking in, it's different to what was happening in real life,” Van Lith said. “Media never gets the full picture. But I grew a lot in ways that are not gonna show on paper right away. LSU will be an experience for me that will really pay off in the league. I think my transition to the league might be a little bit easier now that I've experienced a year like that.
“You gotta have faith in these scenarios. I have a ton of faith in myself, I know that year is going to pay off at some point in my career. I just gotta trust that it will happen.”
Hailey Van Lith played with no shortage of confidence at Louisville during her three seasons at the program. In her final season at Louisville, which came in 2022-23, she averaged 19.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. However, her numbers declined for the most part at LSU, as she recorded per game averages of 11.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals.
Hailey Van Lith gets brutally honest on her confidence
Van Lith has benefitted from her fresh start with TCU. She is currently averaging 19.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals per outing with her new school. She seems to have her confidence back, as Van Lith is playing like the player she was at Louisville.
Van Lith acknowledged that her faith in herself was shaken at times during her difficult 2023-24 campaign.
“Of course, I'm human,” Van Lith responded when asked if her faith in herself was questioned at all in 2023-24. “I go through ups and downs just like everybody else. But God blessed me with great people around me. Ultimately I survived, I got through it, I lived to see another day. Now I just take advantage of every opportunity I get to play basketball.
“Of course, you know, there were bad days mentally for me, but at the end of the day I had more good mental days than bad. God has blessed me with great people in my life.”
What has led to Hailey Van Lith's bounce back season at TCU? Is she simply taking a step forward as a result of playing for a new team, or is there something else behind her success?
“It's probably a combination of things,” Van Lith said. “At the end of the day, I've always believed in me. That's just what is gonna get me through stuff that some other people won't get through. LSU didn't go how I wanted it to go, but at the end of the day I never thought that I was a bad player. I always knew who I was. And if you know who you are, you can get through a lot of stuff in life.
“And again, I had great people around me to remind me who I was on the days that I doubted myself.”
Van Lith is looking to lead TCU to a championship run in the 2024-25 season. TCU women's basketball is 9-0 to begin the year, so they are off to a tremendous start to say the least.
