Hailey Van Lith poured the praise on Angel Reese as the two LSU Tigers alumni spoke of their inevitable reunion in the WNBA, after the Chicago Sky picked the former with their 11th pick.
The pair spent one year with each other in the 2023/24 NCAA season as they led the Tigers to the Elite Eight stage of March Madness, before being undone by Caitlin Clark‘s Iowa Hawkeyes.
Both then left the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for good as Reese took her talents to the Windy City and became a professional, whilst Van Lith transferred to the TCU Horned Frogs.
Van Lith, from Washington, plays as a guard and produced impressive numbers in her final college year by posting 17.9 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game, as well as a 45.2% field goal rate and 33.8% on three-pointers.
And the 23-year-old couldn’t be more excited to get started alongside Reese as she reveals the pair share a lot of qualities together when it comes to their on-court personality traits.
“We have a lot of similarities with how we carry ourselves and our mindset,” Van Lith said of Reese. “She’s a dog, man.
“She turns up her intensity with everyone around her so I’m excited to be in that environment with her again, where she can pull more out of me than I think I have.”
Van Lith was picked alongside Ajsa Sivka, a 19-year-old small forward from Slovenia who won the gold medal at the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2023. Reese seems happy with her additions.
“We ain’t do it right the first time. Let’s run it backkkkk,” Reese posted to X.com, formerly Twitter, referring to her failed bid for the NCAA Championship alongside Van Lith.
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It will be a baptism by fire for Van Lith when she makes her WNBA debut alongside Reese, as she comes up against Clark and the Indiana Fever on May 17.
Clark posted 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game in her debut year, and was almost unanimously voted WNBA Rookie of the Year.
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