TCU Women's Basketball's Historic Season Ends with 'Elite 8' Loss to Texas

The No. 2 seed TCU women's basketball team fell 58-47 to top-seeded Texas on Monday, March 31, in an  NCAA Regional final game (Elite 8) at Legacy Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama.
 
TCU (34-4, 16-2 Big 12) came within one game of reaching the Final Four, after beginning the 2024-25 campaign unranked. The Horned Frogs set a school record for wins and became the first basketball team in university history to reach the Elite Eight.
 
TCU's Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince were named to the NCAA Birmingham Regional all-tournament team. 

In the loss to the Longhorns, the Frogs limited Texas to its third-fewest points in a game this season and became one of only two teams, alongside No. 1 seed South Carolina, to hold the Longhorns below 60 points. 
 
With the loss, six Horned Frogs concluded their college careers: Van Lith, Prince, Madison Conner, Emma-Nnopu, Deasia Merrill and Una Jovanovic.

Box score: here

TCU postgame press conference: here

 

TCU Women's Basketball Earns First NCAA Tournament 'Elite 8' Berth

TCU guard Hailey Van Lith scored 12 of her 26 game-high points in the fourth quarter to lead second-seeded TCU to a 71-62 victory over No. 3 seed Notre Dame on Saturday, March 29, in Birmingham, Alabama, in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA basketball tournament.

The 26 points is a TCU women's basketball program record for points scored by a player in a tournament game. Van Lith, who is the Big 12's Player of the Year, also holds TCU's single-season-record for assists.

Against the Irish, Van Lith also had nine rebounds and four assists for the Horned Frogs, who are two seasons removed from finishing 1-17 in Big 12 play.

The Horned Frogs' 6-7 center, Sedona Prince, added 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and six blocks for the Horned Frogs (34-3), who have advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history and for the first time of any TCU men's or women's basketball team.

Next up is No. 1 seed Texas (34-3), at 6 pm (Central Time), on Monday night, March 31. ESPN will televise the game. The winner will advance to the Final Four, which will be held in Tampa, Florida, on April 4 and 6.

South Carolina and UCLA already have punched their tickets to the Final Four.

This will be the first game between the Horned Frogs and Longhorns since Texas left the Big 12 for the SEC on July 1, 2024. 

TCU has lost nine straight to the Longhorns. Overall, the Frogs are 4-50 against Texas. 

Prince, who is from Austin, Texas, began her collegiate basketball career with the Texas Longhorns, in 2018.

Van Lith, who started her career at the University of Louisville before transferring to LSU for the 2023-24 season  and then transferring to TCU prior to this season, is on her way to a regional final for the fifth time in her career. Van Lith is one of only five players since 2000 to reach an NCAA Elite Eight five times, and she is the first player in NCAA history to lead three separate schools to the Elite Eight.

This was TCU's second straight victory over Notre Dame in the 2024-25 season. The teams met this past November, in a Thanksgiving tournament, in the Cayman Islands. The Horned Frogs won 76-68. 

Team Notes:

• TCU improved to 9-2 vs. the AP Top 25.
• The Horned Frogs nine ranked victories are the fifth-most of any team in America.
• TCU has now won five straight games over ranked teams and is one of just six programs nationwide to do so in 2024-25.
• The Fighting Irish entered Saturday's game ranked eighth in The Associated Press poll. The victory is good for the Horned Frogs' seventh all-time win over a top 10 team and is the third-highest ranked win in program history.
• TCU's 34 wins are tied for the fourth-most in a season by a Big 12 Conference team.
• The Frogs are the first Big 12 team besides Baylor to win 34 games or more in a season.
• The Horned Frogs' 13-game winning streak is the second-longest in program history, trailing only their run of 14 straight victories to begin the Mark Campbell head-coaching era in 2023-24.
• TCU increased its NCAA-leading 3-pointers tally to 349, putting the Frogs eight shy of matching Iowa State's 2021-22 Big 12 single-season record for threes.
• TCU has yet to lose when Madison Conner, Prince and Van Lith account for 60-plus points in a game.
• TCU held Notre Dame to its two worst shooting percentages in a game this season.
• TCU has kept 30-of-36 teams and 10 consecutive opponents below their season scoring average.
• TCU is 4-0 vs. the ACC this season. The Horned Frogs are the first team in Big 12 Conference history to play four games against ACC foes and win them all. 

Individual Notes

• Van Lith notched her NCAA-leading 16th NCAA Tournament victory.
• Van Lith's 26 points were tied for her second-most in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Van Lith scored in double figures for the 13th time in March Madness. Only Paige Bueckers of UConn has reached double figures in more NCAA Tournament games (17).
• Van Lith improved to 7-1 all-time vs. the Fighting Irish.
• Prince notched her 20th multi-block game of the season, the most of any player in America.
• Prince has finished with three-plus blocks in four of her seven career NCAA Tournament games.
• Prince has scored at least 20 points in six of TCU's 11 games vs. ranked teams. 
• Conner has made 127 three-point goals this season, four shy of matching the Big 12 single-season record. 
• Agnes Emma-Nnopu snagged seven rebounds for the 32nd time in a TCU jersey.
• Five of TCU's 14 players have now advanced to the Elite Eight at least twice in their careers. Conner and Emma-Nnopu, along with Taylor Bigby and Donovyn Hunter, are making their second appearances in an NCAA Regional final.
• Campbell has reached the Elite Eight on five occasions in his coaching career. He first reached the Regional finals during his second-and-final season as an assistant coach at Saint Mary's in 2009-10. Campbell helped guide Oregon to three consecutive Elite Eight appearances from 2017-19.
  

TCU Women's Basketball Earns First NCAA Tourney 'Sweet 16' Berth

The second-seeded TCU women’s basketball team earned a Sweet Sixteen berth in the 2025 NCAA Tournament by defeating Louisville, 85-70, on Sunday, March 23, in the tourney's second round, held in Schollmaier Arena, on TCU's campus.

This is the program’s first Sweet Sixteen berth, and the first Sweet Sixteen berth for either a TCU women’s or men’s basketball team.

In a first-round game, also played in Schollmaier Arena (on Friday, March 21), TCU defeated Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU), 73-51. After the TCU-FDU game, Louisville defeated Nebraska, 63-58, in Schollmaier.

This is the 10th appearance in a NCAA Tournament for a TCU women's basketball team. In nine previous appearances, TCU had never advanced out of the first weekend. 

TCU will face No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen, on Saturday, March 29, in Birmingham, Alabama. The game will be broadcast by ABC, either at noon or 2:30 pm (Central). 

The Horned Frogs defeated the Fighting Irish 76-68, on November 29, in the Cayman Islands Classic.

The winner of the TCU-Notre Dame Sweet 16 game will play an "Elite Eight" game against the winner of the March 29 Sweet 16 game that will be played in Birmingham between Texas and Tennessee. 

The "Elite Eight" game will be played in Birmingham on Monday, March 31, at 6 pm. The game will be broadcast by ESPN. The game's winner will earn a trip to the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, which begins on April 4.

TCU’s victory over Louisville came in front of 7,494 fans (including Big 12 Conference Commissioner Brett Yormark) at Schollmaier Arena, a program record for attendance. The 969 students in attendance also set a TCU women's basketball student attendance record.

The victory over the Cardinals was the 23rd straight win at home for the Horned Frogs, who are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

The Frogs improved their 2024-25 season record to 33-3. 

With a 16-2 conference record, TCU won the Big 12 regular-season title, including two victories over longtime-nemesis Baylor. The Frogs also won the Big 12 Conference Tournament, including a clinching victory over Baylor. 

Baylor was a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears were eliminated from the tourney in a second-round loss on their home court in Waco to Ole Miss.
 
Team Notes:

• TCU is just two years removed from a 2022-23 season that saw the program finish 8-23 overall and 1-17 in league play, prior to current head coach Mark Campbell's arrival in Fort Worth.
• TCU's 33 wins are tied for the sixth-most in a season by a Big 12 team.
• TCU's 33 victories are second to Texas' 34 wins for the most of any women's basketball team. 
• The Horned Frogs' win percentage (.917) trails only No. 1 overall seed UCLA (.941) for the national lead.
• The Frogs are 37-4 inside Schollmaier Arena in the Campbell era. 
  
• The Frogs increased fan attendance from the previous season by 28,666 spectators. For the 2024-25 season, 72,444 fans visited Schollmaier Arena.
• In the victory over Louisville, TCU eclipsed the 80-point threshold for the 18th time this season.
• Louisville became the 29th team TCU has prevented from meeting or exceeding its season scoring average.
• TCU held Louisville to its third-lowest field goal percentage (.338) in a game this season.
• TCU has led at halftime in 26 straight games and an NCAA-leading 34-of-36 games this season.
• TCU won its 12th game this season versus an NCAA Tournament team.
• Seven TCU players have advanced to multiple Sweet 16 berths: Hailey Van Lith (five); Emma-Nnopu (three); Madison Conner (two); Donovyn Hunter (two), Sedona Prince (two), Taylor Bigby (two) and Maddie Scherr (two).  
• Campbell has reached the Sweet 16 five times in his coaching career. 
• Campbell is the only head coach in the NCAA Tournament to both win 30 games and capture an undisputed regular season conference championship within two seasons of taking over his/her respective program. 
  
• Campbell is a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. Campbell is the first TCU basketball coach to ever receive consideration for the award. The other finalists are Cori Close (UCLA), Lindsay Gottlieb (USC) and Dawn Staley (South Carolina). The four finalists were chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, past award winners and conference commissioners. The award winner will be announced on April 2 in Tampa, Florida, as a part of Final Four weekend.