Hailey Van Lith recently announced her official transfer from LSU women's basketball to TCU women's basketball. The initial reports of Van Lith's transfer were met by uncertainty after news broke that she had not officially joined the team. However, Van Lith made things official on Friday. Angel Reese, who was teammates with Van Lith during the 2023-24 season at LSU, reacted to Van Lith's transfer on X (formerly Twitter).
“proud of you! you know what to do & you know i’m always rocking with you!!” Reese wrote.
Van Lith spent three seasons at Louisville before transferring to LSU for the 2023-24 campaign. In 2022-23, Van Lith emerged as a college basketball star after averaging 19.7 points per game. She also recorded 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per outing.
LSU women's basketball, meanwhile, defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the 2023 championship game. Momentum was on LSU's side as Angel Reese also emerged as a star.
Reese's first season at LSU was a successful one. In addition to leading her team to a championship, she averaged 23 points, 15.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game.
So when Van Lith transferred to LSU to join Reese and Flau'jae Johnson, expectations were high to say the least.
Hailey Van Lith's short LSU women's basketball career
LSU women's basketball ended up reaching the Elite Eight before getting defeated by Iowa in a rematch of the 2023 championship game. LSU was still talented, but they had some uncertainty.
Hailey Van Lith enjoyed some big moments during the 2023-24 campaign, but it was a down season overall. She saw her points per game average drop to 11.6. Van Lith also shot just 37.8 percent from the field.
Angel Reese, who also saw a slight decline in production but still performed well, ultimately declared for the WNBA Draft and was selected by the Chicago Sky with the No. 7 overall pick.
Van Lith ultimately decided to enter the transfer portal. She has displayed signs of being a star in the past, so perhaps a move to a new program will help her bounce back. TCU women's basketball features a quality program and Van Lith should play a pivotal role for the team moving forward.
She is set to join stars such as Agness Emma-Nnopu and Madison Conner at TCU. Perhaps TCU will make a competitive run in 2024-25 after landing Van Lith in the transfer portal.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for LSU women's basketball. They have certainly found success over the past few years, but they lost Reese to the WNBA. Although the program is surely happy for Reese, they will unquestionably miss her.
Nevertheless, LSU is a good basketball school and they will find a way to remain competitive despite Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith's departures.
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