Last season, the Lehighton girls didn’t want their season to end.

So, a few weeks after being eliminated from the district playoffs they were back on the court playing in a tournament.

That desire to compete and be together as a team continued into the summer and the fall.

And now, second-year head coach Nadia Gauronsky is hoping that commitment will lead to more success.

“They got some playoff experience last year,” said Gauronsky. “We didn’t know how we were going to be ... it was my first year and we managed to scrape into the playoffs, which I think was really surprising for a lot of people in the area that we accomplished that. I think that’s a credit to the kids because they worked all year for that. It took until the last game, but we got there.

“I think that made them hungry, because we started our first tournament in March. We took two weeks off and we were back at it. And they wanted to do that, so that was very exciting. We did three tournaments in the spring, we did a summer league, we did two tournaments in the fall, so these are all things the girls wanted to do ... Hopefully it generates success with all their hard work.”

Any success the Indians achieve will come without two key players from last year’s squad, who have graduated. Emma Repsher missed the first half of the season but returned and averaged 11.3 points per game, while Timara Klotz provided strong defense and chipped in with 2.4 ppg.

“Timara was really a defensive specialist for us, and she will be missed,” said Gauronsky. “And Emma, we only had her half the season but she was absolutely a spark plug. It will be tough to replace their leadership.”

Lehighton does return a number of players, including seniors Leah Uyvari and Ryleigh Trotman, and welcomes back another senior in transfer Olivia Serfass. Uyvari (9.7 ppg) and Trotman (9.1) both averaged over nine points a contest, while Serfass hit for 11.45 with Marian.

“Leah and Ryleigh are back and both of them improved leaps and bounds last season,” said Gauronsky. “And so we’re really going to lean on them for that leadership aspect that we lost in Timara and Emma, but moreover they were our leading scorers, they were our leading rebounders throughout the season, so to have those two back is really a key component.

“And we have Olivia Searfoss, who transferred back ... who has a great basketball IQ and skill set that is really helpful.”

The upperclassmen will be joined by juniors Cayley Reph and Aryanna Arzuagu, and sophomore Allison Solt, who all saw significant time a year ago. Gauronsky also welcomes in three talented freshmen in Brielle Parliman, Ava Serfass and Haley Wehr.

Others providing depth include senior C’anna Hewey, junior Sophia Saville, sophomores Sophia Serfass, Amber Yeakel and Sophia Wise, and freshman Keza Moyer.

“We’re hoping to make the Colonial League playoffs this year,” said Gauronsky. “We fell short of that by one game and we lost a game by one point last year, and that’s what kept us from it. So we’d like to make the Colonial League playoffs. We’d also like to make the District 11 playoffs and win a game.

“Lehighton has just a great community environment. I’ve had the pleasure to work with the elementary kids this summer ... the community and the school have been nothing but supportive.”