Hailey Van Lith stuns in SI Swimsuit debut before WNBA Draft 2025

Hailey Van Lith is a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model.The TCU women’s basketball guard, who led the the Horned Frogs to their first Elite Eight appearance in program history in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, made her debut with SI Swimsuit as their April digital cover star on Tuesday.Van Lith, 23, looked stunning while modeling a variety of swimsuits, including a black one-piece by Saint Laurent, for her photoshoot, which took place at the Crescent Hotel in Fort Worth.The blonde beauty, who modeled a number of colorful bikinis, said she felt “sexy” in a behind-the-scenes video posted by SI Swimsuit.

“I feel sexy, cute and athletic.You can be strong and beautiful and all athletes should feel empowered,” she said.SI Swimsuit teased her digital cover on Monday, posting a video of her tossing a bedazzled basketball with the Big 12 conference logo.“Growing up, you always see like, hyper-feminine, very small, very slender women as the most beautiful and like, that’s what your goal is, to look like,” Van Lith said.

“But as I’ve grown up and, you know, figured out who I am through sports and other things in life, finding my balance between being feminine and also bringing in my masculine side… I think that that’s kind of where I define beauty.”Van Lith is one of the first faces of the NIL era, with 1.2 million Instagram followers and nearly 500,000 TikTok followers.“Growing up in the frame of social media, I 100% felt pressured as when I was 15, 16, and I first started blowing up,” she said.

“My thighs were too big, my hair was too short, I had too much acne… it’s hard when you’re not young, you’re not mature enough to form your own perspective without the opinions of other people.“Now that I’ve matured and had more experiences, I feel so much more authentic.” The Washington native made her SI Swimsuit debut just over a week after she scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in TCU’s 58-47 Elite Eight loss to Texas on March...