North Penn-Liberty used a 13-2 run to start the third quarter to open up their 1-point halftime lead and led 40-28 before the Lady Tigers ended the frame with a 7-2 run of their own to stay in striking distance at 42-35 as they went to the fourth.

Serena Boiywo scored inside to put Liberty up 44-35 to start the final frame before NPM’s Julia Kaczynski put the lead back to seven with a jumper. Kaczynski then drew a charge on NPL’s Haley Litzelman, giving the Lady Mountie point guard her fourth of the game with 6:15 left. 

Litzelman found Victoria McTish for a score with four minutes remaining to bump the Mounties’ lead back to nine at 46-37 and the teams traded turnovers and missed shots until the 3:03 mark when Litzelman was called for her fifth foul.

Losing their season leading scorer hurt the Mounties, but losing their primary ball handler and inside defensive presence would ultimately lead to NPL’s downfall. 

Avalon Rew hit a free throw for NPM and after the Tigers’ full-court press caused a Liberty turnover, Kameron Lightner took advantage of Litzelman’s absence and scored inside, got the ‘and-1’ call and hit the free throw to make it 46-41 NPL with 2:28 left. 

NPL’s Colette Frey got loose for a lay-up and was fouled, hitting one-of-two from the line, to make it 47-41 with 1:27 remaining, but it was all Mansfield from there.

Lightner scored inside on a pass from Rew and Maddy McNamara stole the Mounties’ inbound pass and put it in to cut the NPL lead to 47-45 with under a minute left in regulation. 

After forcing a turnover with their press, Mansfield had two chances to tie but came up empty. Another Liberty traveling call led to another Rew-to-Lightner hook-up as Lightner tied the game at 47-all with 18 seconds left. 

Boiywo opened the extra period by making 1-of-2 free throws before Addie Lehman came up with a steal for the Tigers and was fouled going to the basket. Lehman hit 1-of-2 to tie the game at 48 then came up with another steal and found McNamara, who was fouled under the basket. McNamara hit both to give NPM a 50-48 lead.

Frey would tie it up at 50-all with a pair of free throws with 2:47 left before Lightner was fouled on a put back try and made 1-of-2 to give NPM a 51-50 lead. Boiywo made two free throws with 2:29 left to give Liberty back a 52-51 lead, then got back to the line with under two minutes left and make one to put the Mounties up 53-51. 

McNamara was fouled on a 3-point try and made one free throw to make it a one-point game, then after a Mountie turnover, found an opening in the lane and scored to give NPM a 54-53 lead. 

After forcing a Liberty travel, Mansfield was able to run the clock down to 30 seconds before Rew was fouled and sent to the line. Rew made one to put NPM up 55-53 and NPL turned the ball over once again and were forced to foul Lightner with 8.8 seconds remaining. Lightner would miss both free throws but get the offensive rebound and get sent back to the line with two seconds left, where she made 1-of-2 to provide the 56-53 final.

Elaina Shaw led North Penn-Mansfield with a game-high 17 points, including five threes, while adding four steals and four rebounds. Lightner had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds in the win and added three steals. 

McNamara filled her stat line with 11 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocked shots, while Rew finished with seven points, two assists and four rebounds, Lehman had three points, three steals and three boards and Kaczynski had two points and three rebounds.

Kendall Graham led North Penn-Liberty with 16 points and added three rebounds, three steals and four blocks, while Victoria McTish had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Haley Litzelman finished with eight points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and six blocks, Boiywo had eight points and eight rebounds, Frey had 5 points and Scarlett Graham had four points, two steals and two blocks. 

North Penn-Mansfield (4-3) returns to action Wednesday at Athens while North Penn-Liberty (3-5) is at Williamson, also on Wednesday.