Haley Litzelman will play collegiately next year.

Softball that is. Although, it would be understandable if those watching the North Penn-Liberty senior play basketball believed that was her future sport. She certainly dominates enough there to give that impression.

Litzelman did so again Saturday night at Frank Lupacchino Court, collecting her fifth double-double, going for 24 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and four assists as North Penn-Liberty defeated St. John Neumann, 41-19.

“Whatever Haley puts her mind to, she’s a great athlete at,” North Penn-Liberty coach Tracy Gregory said. “Whatever she puts her mind to, she excels at.”

She certainly does. That includes volleyball where she enjoyed a strong scholastic career.

Litzelman will play softball at Bucknell alongside Hughesville’s Maddie Smith in 2027, but a player who comes from a basketball-rich family continues carving out an impressive high school basketball legacy.

Just look at the career numbers and one understands that Litzelman has established herself as one of the best players in program history. Just seven games into this season, the versatile 5-foot-11 point guard already has produced 1,053 career points, 765 rebounds, 277 assists, 260 steals and 141 blocks. The lone senior on this year’s team, Litzelman has helped North Penn-Liberty (3-4) win two of its last three games, averaging 24.1 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.9 steals per game.

And knowing that her collegiate future is mapped out continues making Litzelman even more dangerous. She can simply focus on basketball right now and a focused Litzelman is the best version of herself, increasing her individual numbers for a third straight year.

“A lot of stress is gone. I know where I’m going and I know what I’m going to do for the next four years,” she said. “I just want to impact the girls as much as I can to help them keep getting better when I’m not there.”

Litzelman seems to be making a difference there as well. North Penn-Liberty features nine freshmen, including three freshman starters and Collette Frey who is the first off the bench. All made a positive impact last night with Victoria McTish grabbing eight rebounds, Scarlett Graham making four steals and dealing three assists and Serena Boiywo adding five boards.

Put it all together and North Penn-Liberty was able to rally from a six-point first quarter deficit and control the final three quarters, outscoring Neumann, 37-11 from there. Litzelman provides the motor which gets the team going and is playing a third different position during her scholastic career, running the offense at point guard.

She is doing so quite well and showcased that again, having a hand in 23 straight Mountie points bridging the middle quarters via her scoring and assists. In fact, Litzelman played a role in 29 of the team’s final 32 points. Her dish to Graham put North Penn-Liberty ahead to stay in the second quarter and another assist to Kendall Graham set up a buzzer-beating 3-pointer which made it, 19-13 at halftime.

“I try and keep doing what I’ve been doing, knowing I’m going to have more people to kick it out to and then reposition to get another opportunity,” Litzelman said.

She did that quite well and it helped lead to Litzelman scoring 11 third quarter points as the Mounties took a 30-15 lead. Highlighting her all-around skills, the four-year starter unleased her arsenal on one play when she blocked a shot, pulled down the rebound and found Scarlett Graham for a layup. Litzelman made two 3-pointers (after setting the program record with eight last Monday), beat defenders off the dribble, turned defense into offense and earned 10 trips to the foul line, sinking eight shots there.

All this after becoming the program’s first 1,000-point scorer last Monday. As an elementary school student, Litzelman watched Chelsea Repard and Britta Berguson reach that milestone, often being at games and practices when her mom Erin, now an assistant along with her father Brian, coached the team.

Her brothers Colton and Derek both excelled at North Penn-Liberty, both playing on district finalists with Derek earning all-state honors. So, while she is raising the bar at North Penn-Liberty, Litzelman also is continuing a terrific family tradition.

“Basketball always has been big for me, especially with my family always being around it,” Litzelman said. “That (getting 1,000) was always a goal I put out for myself because I knew Chelsea and Britta very well. I saw how they could play and went from there.”

Litzelman was a freshman starter for a Mountie team which finished fourth in District 4 Class A three years ago. Now she has reversed roles from that season and is a senior leader for an exciting group of freshmen. All are making impacts and all were vital parts to a defense which turned it up a notch over the final three quarters.

“We’re very young, but they’re learning every game,” Gregory said. “It’s growing experience and we have some big games coming up this week, so we’re just trying to get better each game.”

Neumann knows all about youth movements and also is one of the area’s more inexperienced squads. The Knights have just two starters back from last year’s team, and Bre Nixon and Savana Smith really are the only ones who have significant varsity experience. Two starters were unavailable Saturday, so Neumann was down to six players as well.

Still, the Knights showed positives, building an 8-2 lead in the first quarter and holding the lead until the 3 minute, 20-second mark of the second quarter when Litzelman found Graham for a go-ahead layup.

“We have a lot of young players and a couple who this is their first year playing a full season. We have some players who haven’t picked up a ball for five years since they were in middle school who have come back to it,” Neumann coach Shar Robinson said. “We have some players now that are trying to live up to the hype of their former teammates. It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of adjusting and that’s what we’re going through right now.”

What Neumann lacks in experience it makes for in fight. The Knights competed relentlessly against North Penn-Liberty and each player took turns diving on the floor after loose balls and/or causing jump balls following Mountie rebounds. Neumann held its own on the boards and Haylee Meixel grabbed a team-high eight rebounds with Nixon and Smith adding seven and Kaydence Meixel five.

Nixon added three steals, three assists and seven points. Four Knights scored in the first quarter and Nixon’s second quarter 3-pointer stopped a Mountie run and pulled Neumann within 14-13.

“They try to go as hard as they can until they can’t anymore and that’s all I ask of them; to leave it all out there and go 100 %,” Robinson said. “That’s all you can do.”

NP-LIBERTY (41)

Haley Litzelman 7 8-10 24, Kendall Graham 2 0-0 5, Victoria McTish 1 2-8 4, Scarlett Graham 3 0-0 6, Serena Boiywo 0 0-0 0, Collette Frey 1 0-0 2, Jaci Fairchild 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 10-19 41.

NEUMANN (19)

Bre Nixon 3 0-0 7, Kaydence Meixel 1 0-0 2, Savana Smith 1 0-0 2, Haylee Meixel 3 0-0 6, Brooklyn Clabaugh 1 0-0 2, Emily Moyle 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 0-0 19.

NP-Liberty 4 15 11 11–41

Neumann 8 5 2 4–19

3-pointers: North Penn-Liberty 3 (Litzelman 2, K. Graham); Neumann 1 (Nixon).

Records: North Penn-Liberty 3-4. Neumann 1-7.