GROVE CITY — T.L. Eller entered the Grove City High gym last November, sat her team down and delivered one of the most difficult speeches she’s ever had to give.

She informed her players, many of whom she had grown very close to since they were in the third grade, that she was stepping aside from the girls basketball program at the school for a season — and maybe for good.

Eller was pregnant again after suffering a miscarriage not long after the 2011-12 basketball campaign.

“It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Eller said. “It was something I didn’t even realize I was going to have to do. But as the season approached, I just physically couldn’t keep up. It was literally two days before (the first practice date) I just kind of broke down.”

Eller feared for her health and the health of her unborn child.

She also knew she couldn’t give the program the attention and focus she had previously.

So, she stepped away and left the program in the hands of long-time assistant coach Mike Hostetler and former head coach Roger Flynn.

The players were stunned.

“We looked at her like, ‘Did that really come out of her mouth?” said senior forward Jenn Ferguson said. “We cried for about 20 minutes.”

Eller checked in from time to time, watching games from high in the bleachers, not wanting her players to veer their focus away from Hostetler and Flynn.

She knew deep down she would return this season, but it was by no means a 100-percent proposition.

Then her daughter, Ainsley, was born — healthy and happy. Eller, a Grove City College graduate, recalled the days she spent as a child in the gym with her father at Girard High School. She wanted Ainsley to experience the same joy.

Eller has returned this season with Hostetler and Flynn back as assistants.

And the players couldn’t be happier.

“We are very excited to have her back,” said senior guard Corianne Hyduchak. “We missed her. We love her.”

Eller and her eight-month-old daughter are fixtures in the gym now. The Eagles’ players have adopted Ainsley as their mascot for the season.

Eller now has plenty of babysitters.

“I have 22 of them,” she said, smiling. “They are all fighting over who gets to babysit her.

“Ainsley likes the gym,” Eller added, “which is good because she’s going to spend a lot of time here.”

Grove City was 13-10 last season under Hostetler. The Eagles had only one senior on the roster and made the District 10 playoffs, losing in the first round to Villa Maria.

“Coach Hostetler and Coach Flynn did such a great job last year,” Hyduchak said. “They made the transition really easy.”

The transition back to coach this season has been seemless for Eller.

“Just the entire atmosphere in the gym has been so great,” Eller said. “I said to them after the first scrimmage, ‘Thank God I came back.’ This is such a nice group of girls to work with. They are improving each and every day and rising to the challenge.

“I don’t know, obviously, what the season will bring,” Eller added, “but I truly believe at the end of the year we’ll feel we’ve done our best.”