“Gym empty as hell”: Fans complain over "sad crowd" for Hailey Van Lith and Hannah Hidalgo’s electrifying matchup as TCU upsets Notre Dame

Hailey Van Lith and Hannah Hidalgo faced off in the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic, where TCU's Horned Frogs played against the third-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday. One would expect that if top-level guards like Hannah Hidalgo and Hailey Van Lith were playing, the crowd would be stacked. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

This was a disappointing showcase from women's basketball fans, despite an electrifying matchup between the two top-tier women's college basketball teams.

Fans took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their disappointment at seeing very sparsely filled bleachers in the John Gray gymnasium, Cayman Islands. They said:

"Gym empty as hell."

"What a sad crowd. I'm so glad I went to college in Iowa."

"What in the middle school Gym is this ???"

Fans continued their outrage over the poor turnout.

"Are they playing in an elementary school?" queried a fan.

"NO WAY A GAME THIS BIG WAS PLAYED IN A GYM LIKE THIS," lashed out another fan.

"That's crazy how there's no one at this game," wrote another user.

"So much about this is pissing me off. Where are they even playing?" Wrote another vexed X user.

TCU pulled off a major upset, rallying back from 14 points down in the 4th quarter. Sedona Prince dominated on both ends of the floor as well and TCU won the game 76-68.

She finished the game with a solid 20-20 double-double on points and rebounds. However, it was Hailey Van Lith who stepped up in the clutch moments of the game. She scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half as TCU made a 4th quarter comeback. Hailey Van Lith also had seven assists in the process.

Hannah Hidalgo dropped 27 points to lead all scorers in the game. She also stuffed the stat sheet as she had 9 rebounds and 5 assists. However, that was not enough to overcome the hustle of TCU. Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron finished with 16 and 14 points respectively.

Hannah Hidalgo in action while pulling off a major upset on USC Trojans. (COLLEGE BASKETBALL: NOV 23 Women's - Notre Dame at USC - Source: Getty)

What does this mean for TCU and Notre Dame?

The third-ranked Notre Dame suffered their first defeat of the season as their record now moves to 5-1 for the season. They face the Utah Utes in Saturday's match-up.

Meanwhile, TCU builds on its impressive start to the season as their record moves to 7-0, still undefeated. They face the South Florida Bulls next on Saturday.