After being waived by the Chicago Sky in the preseason, the Connecticut Sun wasted no time in taking on Hailey Van Lith. In just a few games, this 5-foot-9 guard has become a perfect example of how one\u2019s skill set can fit better with some teams than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2025, Van Lith\u2019s rookie season, the guard averaged 3.5 points<\/a>, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. Despite her time on the court only increasing by an average<\/a> of five and a half minutes per game with the Sun, the improvement is head-turning.\u00a0<\/p>\n In just eight games played, Van Lith is averaging 8.3 points<\/a>, 1.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. That comes with an average of 18.1 minutes \u2013 impactful minutes, that is. The guard\u2019s ability to make this kind of impact despite not being with the team for a long time proves she found her fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n A Look Back on Van Lith\u2019s Collegiate Career<\/p>\n Van Lith is certainly no stranger to moving around. Throughout her five<\/a> years playing at the collegiate level, the guard played for three different schools. Three years at Louisville, along with one at LSU, and her final year at TCU, gave the athlete experience with adaptivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time she ended her collegiate career with TCU, her \u201cbest fit\u201d wasn\u2019t so much about the team\u2019s record, but where she felt her greatest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe aren\u2019t even sad about losing,\u201d Van Lith said<\/a> during her final postgame press conference with the Horned Frogs. \u201cWe\u2019re sad that we aren\u2019t going to see each other probably next week. My journey has been crazy, I\u2019m super grateful for it, wouldn\u2019t have had it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout her time in college, the star player was very open about her personal mental health struggles. Despite the obstacles, her time at TCU and finding faith<\/a> are what allowed her to overcome those humps.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hailey Van Lith Is Finding Her Group With Sun<\/p>\n After needing some time to find the best fit in college, the standout has already faced a similar situation in just her second season with the WNBA. After the Sun\u2019s second game against the Las Vegas Aces on May 15, second-year guard Saniya Rivers gave her insight on the newcomer\u2019s growth so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHaley was in the starting lineup today, and she came in and showed why she should be a part of the starting lineup,\u201d Rivers said<\/a>. \u201cI was super proud of her. She put us on her back, and she led us to a seven-point [deficit].\u201d<\/p>\n That night, Van Lith recorded a season-high 17<\/a> points, while also logging a rebound and an assist. Thirteen<\/a> of those points came in the fourth quarter alone, where the star was able to showcase her ability to give this team the boost they needed in desperate situations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe wasn\u2019t scared to take these shots at big moments,\u201d Connecticut Sun Head Coach Rachid Meziane said<\/a>. \u201cShe\u2019s fearless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After starting in zero<\/a> games with the Chicago Sky, Van Lith has already found herself in the beginning lineup three<\/a> times with the Sun. As the sun continues to set for Connecticut\u2019s final season, the future continues to look brighter for the second-year standout. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being waived by the Chicago Sky in the preseason, the Connecticut Sun wasted no time in taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4384,18946,99,434],"class_list":["post-670509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-hailey-van-lith","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}