In the moments after TCU’s women’s basketball team clinched its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, star guard Hailey Van Lith reflected on her prior mental health struggles, telling reporters she had suicidal thoughts earlier in her career but has now arrived at a “moment of loving life.”
“The way that I got exposed to the media and social media at such a young age, I really struggled with mental health things. When I was younger and in college, I was suicidal, I was heavily medicated and I felt trapped,” Van Lith said in a video captured by Sports Illustrated’s Nick Girimonte after No. 2-seeded TCU’s win over No. 7-seeded Louisville on Sunday. “And you would never know because I was having a ton of success on the court, but internally, and in life in general, I was ready to be done.
“And so that’s what I mean when I speak on suffering and pain,” she continued. “It’s like I didn’t even want to live. So to come from that to this is incredible.”
The 23-year-old from Wenatchee, Wash., scored 16 points and added a game-high 10 assists against her former team in Sunday’s 85-70 victory. A former No. 7 recruit nationally, Van Lith spent her first three collegiate seasons with Louisville, guiding the Cardinals to a Final Four and two…
