"The moment got the best of us": Hailey Van Lith lauds South Carolina's defense after revealing where TCU fell short in blowout loss

The TCU Horned Frogs and Hailey Van Lith suffered their second loss of the season on Sunday. They were outmatched by the reigning NCAA Champions South Carolina Gamecocks, 86-52, in a game that saw five-year star Lith as the only double-digit scorer for the team.

Van Lith, who finished with 21 points, two rebounds, six assists and a steal, alluded that the lights were too bright for them in their first matchup against the championship-contending team. In the post-game presser, she said:

"It was a big game on TV. We have a new group that hasn't experienced a ton of these moments together yet. I think we got a lot of actions that we normally get and we just were a little off on our shots, we threw the pass a little too late. Just things like that where I think the moment got the best of us a little bit." (4:20)

She did give much praise to the Gamecocks as she and the Horned Frogs will use the loss as a learning experience for their next big challenge.

"They're a really athletic defensive team. They caused some problems for us. It was a combination of them and us but we need to control what we can control on our end," Van Lith expressed. (4:49)

Ultimately, TCU was limited to just 17-for-51 (33.3%) from the field and just five out of 19 attempts (26.3%) from the three-point range. This was a result of South Carolina's pesky and pressuring defense as, after Van Lith's 21 points, junior guard Taylor Bigby was the closest with merely eight points.

Now falling to a 9-2 record on the campaign, the Horned Frogs look to recuperate in time for Big 12 Conference play. They'll go up against the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters next on Sunday.

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Hailey Van Lith shares a message to her team after a huge loss

Hailey Van Lith is going through her last season of college ball after etching her name as a potential WNBA lottery pick in her overall collegiate career. As the clear-cut star, she gave out a veteran's message to her team, looking to bounce back from such a loss.

"We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds in this game. We just played on our heels. We let them be the aggressor all game long. That's something we can fix. That's the good part about it," Van Lith said. (3:42)

"We can have a mindset shift. We're going to watch the film. We're going to learn from this. We're going to get better. Hopefully, we get another shot at a game like this later down the road." (4:00)

Eager to close out her final campaign strong, Van Lith is currently averaging 19.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.7 steals a game.