Hailey Van Lith, TCU Beat Notre Dame to Advance to School's 1st-Ever Elite Eight

Hailey Van Lith posted 26 points and nine rebounds and Sedona Prince added 21 points and six blocks to lead the No. 2 seed TCU women's basketball team to a 71-62 win over No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon in Birmingham.

Notre Dame led 52-51 entering the fourth quarter, but TCU went on a 7-0 run buoyed by Prince and Van Lith, whose three capped the stretch.

The duo ended up scoring 18 of TCU's 20 fourth-quarter points (11 for Van Lith, seven for Prince).

The backbreaker was Van Lith's three with 4:11 left to put TCU up 65-57. The dagger was Van Lith's layup for a 69-60 advantage with 1:10 remaining.

As for Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish simply couldn't hit their shots in the faces of a tough TCU defense. Liatu King posted 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds to lead Notre Dame. The rest of the team combined to shoot just 14-of-60 (23.3 percent). Superstar sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo had a rare off-night, shooting just 3-of-19 for 15 points and four steals.

Afterward, an elated Van Lith celebrated with her teammates.

And with that, Van Lith became the first player in women's or men's college basketball history to lead three separate programs (Louisville, LSU, TCU) to the Elite Eight.

Naturally, fans and analysts were impressed with the efforts and accomplishments of Van Lith, who led a TCU team that was a 7.5-point underdog heading into Saturday's game.

TCU will now play the winner of No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Tennessee in the Elite Eight with a trip to the Final Four on the line.