WA native Hailey Van Lith taken in 1st round of WNBA Draft

Hailey Van Lith has made it from the banks of the Wenatchee River all the way to the WNBA.

The Washington state native and former Cashmere High School star was taken with the 11th pick in the first round of the WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky on Monday night in New York.

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With the Sky, Van Lith will get to learn the ropes from another point guard from Washington: Kent’s Courtney Vandersloot, a five-time All-Star who starred at Kentwood High School and Gonzaga. Van Lith is also reunited in Chicago with former LSU teammate Angel Reese, a 2024 first-round pick.

The 23-year-old Van Lith had a notable college career that included time at three separate schools – three seasons with Louisville, one at LSU and one more this past season with TCU. In total, she scored 2,599 points and became the first college basketball player, woman or man, to reach the Elite Eight five times and take three programs to an NCAA regional final. The 5-foot-9 point guard’s omnipresence in the NCAA Tournament earned her the nickname “Miss March.”

HAILEY YOU ARE NOW A CHICAGO SKY @AccessOneInc | #skytown pic.twitter.com/5kUxOnlWTK

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) April 15, 2025

Van Lith is also already an Olympian, having played for the United States in three-on-three women’s basketball in the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning a bronze medal.

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Prior to her college career, Van Lith was a sensation for the Cashmere Bulldogs, winning Washington Ms. Basketball and McDonald’s All-American honors in 2020. She even gained the notice of the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi, training at the Hall of Famer’s Mamba Sports Academy in Los Angeles. Kobe and Gigi Bryant even attended one of Van Lith’s games in Cashmere in January 2020.

In 2024-25, Van Lith averaged 17.9 points, 5.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game for TCU to earn both the Big 12 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards. She shot 52.2% on field goals, hit 66 3-pointers at a 33.8% clip, and was 82.7% on free throws in 38 games.

A winner wherever she goes ⭐

Hailey Van Lith became the first player in NCAA history to reach the Elite Eight with three different programs—Louisville, LSU, and TCU. In her one season at TCU, she averaged 17.9 PTS and 5.4 AST and was named both Big 12 Player of the Year and… pic.twitter.com/Pp5BQpcyVa

— WNBA (@WNBA) April 11, 2025

This post includes contributions from The Associated Press.

More on Hailey Van Lith

• Hailey Van Lith is grateful at end of her well-traveled college career
• Miss March: Hailey Van Lith reaches A fifth Elite Eight
• Hailey Van Lith glad to have talked mental health publicly

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