Hailey Van Lith is having a tremendous postseason NCAA tournament experience. Van Lith and the Horned Frogs defeated her former team Louisville Sunday night and are now Sweet Sixteen-bound, a reality the program hasn’t experienced in 15 years.
While speaking to reporters Sunday night Van Lith was focused on giving credit where credit is due. “It started with Kobe,” she said of the late Lakers great. “He planted that seed in me.”
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“I didn’t know it at the time,” she continued, “but it’s the essence of life, and it’s basically been the sum of my career — ‘How can I enjoy this journey?'”
Van Lith added that despite the fact that “last year, and the years before” weren’t “exactly what I wanted,” the lessons from Bryant and those experiences “made me who I am, and it’s given me this path for this year.”
This isn’t the first time Van Lith has opened up about her relationship with Bryant, who died alongside his daughter Gigi and seven others in a January 2020 helicopter crash. The pair first connected when Van Lith was in high school.
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“When I start to doubt myself, I’m quickly reminded of Kobe’s desire to play and what he saw in me,” she told reporters during the 2024 Olympics (where she and Team USA took home the bronze medal in the 3×3 basketball competition). “He would want me to continue to be authentic to myself.”
