City of Basketball Love

Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
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As Sanyiah Littlejohn searched for a spot to play her high school basketball last summer she wanted a place where she could make an impact on the floor and be part of a successful program.

After spending her middle school years at Wissahickon, Littlejohn made the decision to come to Lansdale Catholic. The Crusaders went winless in the Philadelphia Catholic League in the prior season, but part of the allure was the ability to change the perception of the Crusaders program within the school and across the PCL.

“I knew I could make something possible there, get them to be one of the top teams in school,” said Littlejohn, now a sophomore. “And I think it's just a really great experience to change the environment and make them really good.”

Early in her sophomore season, Littlejohn has checked both of those boxes at Lansdale Catholic as she steps into a bigger role for the Crusaders, who improved to 3-0 with a win over 61-17 win over Springfield Central (Mass.) at the She Got Game Classic in Washington D.C. on Sunday.

Following a 2-11 overall and 0-11 Catholic League finish in the season prior to LIttlejohn’s arrival, the team finished fourth in the PCL standings last season (7-3) and made it to the PIAA 4A state final in her freshman year before falling to Archbishop Wood. 

Now that Littlejohn and the rest of her teammates have tasted a bit of success, they are hungry for more. They want to put the cherry on top with PCL and state championships. However, they recognize their success last year means they’re more of a known quantity this season.

“I think since last year, we saw how we played and how good we could really be,” Littlejohn said. “We turned it up a notch and we know that we have a target on our backs so that's just making us better.”

Her presence as a reliable point guard has been a welcome one for Lansdale Catholic who is looking for complementary pieces to dynamic scorers Gabby Casey and Olivia Boccella.

Littlejohn racked up four assists without registering a turnover on Sunday in the victory over Springfield Central, the reigning Massachusetts state champions. She also showed off her ability to score at multiple levels, dumping in 13 points. 

“She just brings a calmness with all of her abilities and I think it keeps the team steady,” LC head coach Eric Gidney said. “To have a point guard that's just that calm and steady, really doesn't turn the ball over a lot, means a lot of wonders to our team and to our program.”

Littlejohn is a stoic, confident player who rarely plays out of control. However, sometimes she can be a little quiet on the court. She recognizes that to take her game to the next level she needs to step into more of a leadership role within the team.

“I think that she needs to be a little bit more vocal,” Gidney said. “It's easy for me to forget she is only in 10th grade. And she's on a team that's dominated by a lot of senior leadership and veterans. And it's easy for her to just kind of stay within herself sometimes.”

On a team where she isn’t the main attraction (that would be St. Joe’s signee Casey), Littlejohn has carved out an important role doing the things to complement the strong scoring the team already has. In the season opener, she had 10 assists. Against Springfield Central she had nine steals. She’s found different ways to take over the game without necessarily pouring in the points.

Littlejohn said she sees herself as a two-way player and looks up to players like Allen Iverson who can “do everything” and make an impact on both ends of the floor. Although right now she looks more like an athletic distributor who can run the floor rather than someone who will rely on breaking defenses down off the dribble and pouring in the points.

She has worked to improve her shot, especially from three-point range along with finishing with contact closer to the basket. Additionally, she has been improving immensely on the other side of the ball, as evidenced by her ability to force turnovers on Sunday afternoon.

Gidney was complimentary of Littlejohn’s growth on both sides of the ball in her short time with the Crusaders. He acknowledges that she has done a great job adapting her game to the needs of the team whether that’s utilizing her 5-foot-9 frame defensively or expanding her offensive arsenal.

“Just watching her mature and hit outside jumpers now, which is not something that she would do a lot last year,” Gidney said. “And also showing the ability to score. She's a great example of a player figuring out what she needs to do to help us win.”

On the college front, Littlejohn doesn’t have any offers yet but has been getting some interest from Ivy League, Atlantic 10, ACC, and Big East schools. She has talked with coaches from Fordham and Dartmouth and attended various camps on the east coast. But right now she is focusing on the season at hand working towards the ultimate goal of finishing what her team started last year and winning a state championship.

“I just come out here and try to be the best player I can be so I can give the most I can to lift my team to a state chip,” Littlejohn said.