Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese gave a shoutout to her former LSU teammate, Hailey Van Lith, for her big night against Notre Dame. Van Lith led the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday to a 76-68 win. The 5-foot-7 guard was one of three players who finished the game in double digits.
Van Lith scored 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field. The point guard had three rebounds and seven assists on the night. Her teammate, center Sedona Prince, had 20 points and dominated the boards with 20 rebounds. Defensively she was key to their win with her three steals and eight blocks.
The other guard, Madison Conner, added 18 points and six rebounds. Conner shot 3-for-9 from beyond the arc and an efficient 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
Following TCU's win, Reese posted her former teammate's initials on X (Twitter).
"HVL," Reese wrote.
Van Lith has played six games for the 2024-25 season, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists. Despite her outstanding performance this season, she's still projected to be a late second-round pick. According to Tankathon, the 23-year-old guard could be drafted by the Connecticut Sun with their 25th pick.
Also read: Angel Reese posts 2 words for South Carolina star as Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks blow away Iowa State
Angel Reese on her rivalry with Caitlin Clark
Before entering the WNBA, Angel Reese was linked to Caitlin Clark as a rival. Since their college days, the two young stars have constantly been compared to each other. On Wednesday, Reese appeared as a guest at the Complex Conversations event and talked about her perspective on their rivalry.
I think it's just competition, it's been competition since college," Reese said (14:33) . "Being able to play against Caitlin, I've been playing against Caitlin since we were probably in eighth or ninth grade. We both were really competitive in AAU. I went to Maryland, she went to Iowa so we competed there and then finally being able to compete in the national championship.
"Obviously social media is going to put two women against each other. I think it's been something that's negative, but also positive. I think it shines light on women's basketball so I'll take that of being able to be the person that gets the hate but I know that at the end of the day I'm growing women's basketball and helping women's basketball."
In their first season in the professional league, their rivalry was amplified every time they played against each other. They were the finalists for the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. However, Reese had one vote, which prevented Clark from winning the award unanimously.