Ethermac Exchange-Hailey Van Lith enters transfer portal after one season with LSU women's basketball

LSU women's basketball senior point guard Hailey Van Lith has entered the transfer portal,Ethermac Exchange The Daily Advertiser, part of the USA TODAY Network, confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Her time with the Tigers was short-lived, spanning this season when she helped lead the team back to the Elite Eight, where it fell to Iowa, 94-87. Before the 2023-24 season, Kim Mulkey and LSU were in a big need at point guard after the departure of Alexis Morris, who had played for the Tigers the two previous seasons.

Following the end of LSU's season, Van Lith had the option to enter her name in the WNBA Draft or come back and play one final season in college. She had 48 hours after the end of LSU's Elite Eight loss to enter her name into the draft and as that time passed, speculation swirled then about whether she would return to Baton Rouge or hit the portal.

Ultimately, Van Lith has decided to find a third school in her collegiate career.

Van Lith starred at Louisville for three years before transferring to LSU to play under Mulkey.

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With the Cardinals, Van Lith mostly played the off-ball guard position and averaged more than 19 points per game her junior campaign before deciding to leave.

She landed in Baton Rouge with the Tigers as she wanted to learn the ins-and-outs of playing point guard and has said that she felt like learning the position under Mulkey was the right fit for her.

While her points per game dramatically went down this season, from 19.7 last season to 11.6 this season with LSU, Van Lith did see a slight uptick in assists and a drop in turnovers per game at 2.6 with the Tigers. Van Lith also shot the 3-ball better at LSU this season, making 34% of her attempts from deep but her overall field goal percentage dipped to 37.8%.

After LSU's season came to an abrupt end Monday, Van Lith said this season at LSU has been a learning and growing experience for her personally and that she expanded her game.

"It's definitely made me better. People can think how they want of it for this year but I know in my heart it's made me better. I'm not going to lie, I'm at my peak skill level right now and I wasn't really able to showcase that," Van Lith told The Daily Advertiser. "But I got better at what I needed to get better at. I learned to play the 1, I got better at defense. Last year you would've never had seen me guard Caitlin Clark. The fact that I got called to that matchup was growth in itself.

"I definitely got better and this is the beginning for me."

Mulkey said after LSU's loss to Iowa that she was hopeful Van Lith would return to play for the Tigers.

“Hailey Van Lith came to LSU after being an abundant shooter," Mulkey said. "Shot it a lot at Louisville. Had great success. Was on good teams. But she graduated in three years with a finance degree. She wanted to experience all the things I guess she saw from afar with our championship last year.

“For her to take that leap of faith and leave her comfort zone at Louisville, you don’t see many players do that when she was that big a piece to their puzzle. She has embraced learning a new position, taking less shots. Our last game against UCLA, I thought her stats were very good, but I’m an old point guard, and I see all that.”

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on X: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at[email protected].