“Christmas came early”: Fans react as Hailey Van Lith leads TCU to highest ranking in program history

Hailey Van Lith and TCU Horned Frogs defeated Notre Dame last Friday in the Cayman Islands Classic. HVL scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half alongside seven assists in the 76-68 win.

Sedona Price added a near triple-double with 20 points, 20 rebounds and eight blocks. Hannah Hidalgo scored a game-high 27 points for the Fighting Irish.

As the Horned Frogs remain undefeated (8-0), the program grabs its best-ever Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll ranking. TCU jumps to the 9th spot, entering the top 10 for the first time in history. Its previous best was the 13th spot garnered in 2004.

Fans flooded the Instagram post to congratulate Hailey Van Lith and TCU for the achievement:

"CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!" a fan wrote.

"In honor of their achievement you should get a legible font for social media. They deserve it. We all deserve it.," another fan commented.

"Should be higher," another fan wrote.

A few fans also reacted on X:

"Yay! Such for a fun team to watch. Only going to get better once Maddie comes back," a fan commented.

"How are we not top 5??" another fan wrote.

"TCU women's basketball is a team to watch this year.," another fan commented.

Fans react to TCU Horned Frogs' historic AP poll rankings

Angel Reese reacted to Hailey Van Lith's outing against Notre Dame

After Hailey Van Lith dropped an offensive masterclass in the second half against Notre Dame, her former LSU Tigers teammate, Angel Reese reacted on X.

The Chicago Sky star kept it simple by mentioning Van Lith’s initials in the post.

"HVL," Reese wrote on X.

Notre Dame was coming off after pulling an upset against JuJu Watkins and the Trojans. USC is assumed to be one of the contending teams this season.

Moreover, atleast one Fighting Irish was in the top-8 of every statistical category in the week 3 results of college basketball. Hannah Hidalgo led Division I in points per game (24.8ppg, #3) and steals per game (5.20spg, #1).

Senior Olivia Miles was ranked 6th in assist per game with 6.8 apg. Kate Koval dominated the blocks per game category with D1 best 4.80 bpg and 8th best 11.8 rebounds per game.