The bar has been raised.

The Lehighton girls basketball program got its first district playoff win in 25 years last season when the Indians knocked off Colonial League champion Northwestern in the District 11 4A playoffs.

Coming off a 12-13 season, head coach Joe Berezwick is excited about the direction the program is headed in, and believes that this year’s team could help take the program to even greater heights.

“That was such a great win for our program last season, and it’s something we’re looking to certainly build off,” said Berezwick. “We’re coming into this season raising the bar for our aspirations and our expectations.

“This is a group that was dedicated in the offseason and had a very strong summer. We lost some really great seniors, but we also return a nice group of talented players as well, so we’re just excited to get the season started.”

The Indians will start the year with a six-person rotation, with all six players receiving starter-type minutes.

Charli McHugh (8.00 points per game) and Taylor Bowman (6.3 ppg) will serve as the Tribe’s captains, and were significant catalysts to their success a season ago.

Emma Repsher, Jordon Haley and Katie Wojton return as well, and highly-vaunted freshman Olivia Serfass will enter the fold this season, and is expected to make an immediate impact.

Megan Hauser, Ariel Barthol, Leah Uyvari, Ryleigh Trotman and Timara Klotz will also be competing for varsity time.

“I’m really excited about this group,” said Berezwick. “It’s a well-balanced bunch, and I really like our athleticism. From what we have seen so far, they all play well off each other, and another thing I have noticed is that this is a strong team.

“Physically, they are coming into this season stronger than they were last season, and that’s a credit to them for weight training over the offseason. Our strength will be big for us.”

It’s been said in basketball is that good defense often creates good offense. That will be the main focus for Lehighton this season, as it hopes to utilize its strength and athleticism to play tough man-to-man defense against its opponents, which Berezwick hopes will spark the Indians offense.

“Defense is going to be our strength, and I think we will be able to use our defense to get our offense going,” said Berezwick.

“I think we can be a really tough defensive team. There are always going to be times when you hit a little bit of a scoring lull in a game, but I think with the way we want and expect to play defense, we can avoid that at times.”