Nadia Gauronsky has had no shortage of terrific players during her tenure at the helm of the Pleasant Valley girls' basketball team, a trend that has helped the Bears achieve a great deal of team success.

After losing several key members from a team that reached the District 11 quarterfinals last season, Gauronsky is eager to find that player on this year's squad."We're looking for a leader," said Gauronsky. "I think right now, we're looking for somebody to step up on the court and be the floor general."Gauronsky has plenty of options in her search for which player will guide this season's team."We may have that in Mikaela Miller," Gauronsky said of the senior. "She seems to be very vocal on the floor. We've seen a lot of good play from Masani Francis; she gives us excellent minutes. And Joyce Sullivan has been a starter for the last two years."So I'm hoping with the combination of those three, that we can find a leader in that group."Francis averaged 8.27 points per game while knocking down a team-high 18 three-pointers as a sophomore. Sullivan (5.94 ppg) was second on the team with 15 three-pointers as a junior, while Miller contributed 3.24 points per game as a sophomore.In addition to leadership, the trio will also have to replace some of the scoring output lost with the graduation of Renee Milos (team-high 10.17 ppg), Mackenzie Borger (7.0 ppg) and Kiki Russell (6.57 ppg).Gauronsky will be looking to seniors Natalia Salmon, Kalla Borden and junior Morgan Covart, who missed last season with an injury, to step up and fill out the rotation along with several other newcomers."As quickly as they develop is as good as we will be," said Gauronsky.Though many of those players have varsity experience under their belts, Gauronsky is keen to note the team will simply take it one step at a time as players grow into new roles."I think we're going to take it game-by-game, depending on how they develop," she said. "We have a freshman guard in Cam Caffrey, who I think can step in and give us some valuable minutes. She looked really good in our scrimmage."I'm hoping that throughout the season, we'll find different people who can step into different roles and we'll become a more cohesive unit. But that takes time. With time and experience, we'll get better as the year goes on."While the offense might take time to develop, Guauronsky is hoping strong defense will remain one of the Bears' calling cards."I think our defense will propel us forward," the coach said. "Our defense has kind of been a staple of one of the things we've done well over the last couple of years, and we capitalize on a lot of our opportunities through creating turnovers, and creating mismatches, and doing the right things."So I think our defense will propel us forward. But I think it's just going to take time until they develop into a leadership role."After finishing last season 11-12 and one game short of winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference's Mountain Division, Gauronsky knows there will be no shortage of motivation for this year's team."The few experienced players we have should be a little bit hungry," she said. "We were in contention to win the division. I think that left us a little bit hungry. I believe that desire will propel us forward this season."