SLIPPERY ROCK — Senior forward Emma McDermott strikes the tree position Friday afternoon, stretching her long, sinewy arms as far as they will go toward the ceiling in the Slippery Rock High gymnasium.

More yoga poses follow.

The impromptu session was very much a respite in a storm of sorts that the Rockets have unleashed upon teams this season.

Category 5 relentlessness.

Slippery Rock, always aggressive and tenacious under coach Amber Osborn's blitzkrieg basketball philosophy, has ramped it up a few notches this season.

The Rockets have turned it up to an 11 — belying the innocence and namaste of their yoga session.

“That's what I love about our team this year,” says McDermott, smiling. “We're all able to continuously get up and down the court. We can all move on defense, on offense. Whatever we do, we do it fast.”

And well.

Slippery Rock hounded Moniteau on Monday, picking the Warriors' pockets 25 times and forcing more than 30 turnovers.

And it isn't just Moniteau that has succumbed to its smothering defense.

Just about every team the Rockets have faced have had trouble.

“That's kind of our secret weapon, I think,” McDermott said. “We just bring it up 10 notches and it gets us going.”

McDermott and Michaella Roth are the only two seniors in the starting lineup. The other three are sophomores Hallie Raabe, Maryann Ackerman and Anna Kadlubek.

The five feed off each other and complement their unique individual skills.

“Emma at the top with her long stick arms helps a lot,” Kadlubek said with a laugh. “We kind of get an energy spark. We get that attitude of let's go out and finish it.”

The Rockets can definitely sense the blood in the water when they attack a team and force turnovers in bunches.

They said they can see the will draining out of their opponent.

“I hope we don't crush all their will,” Ackerman said, smiling. “We're always trying to be better than we were the last half or even the last minute.”

Ackerman has turned into one of the linchpins for Slippery Rock, both on defense and offense.

The guard leads the Rockets in steals with 50. Slippery Rock has 195 as a team.

Despite foul trouble against Moniteau, Ackerman scored 14 points — 10 coming during a flurry in the third quarter.

Ackerman, though, was the other edge of the sword when it comes to Slippery Rock's frenetic defense.

Sometimes, players get in early foul trouble.

Ackerman spent a bulk of the first half Monday fidgeting in her seat on the bench.

“It's terrible. All my teammates make fun of me for being loud on the bench and being to enthusiastic because I'm eager to get back in the game,” Ackerman said. “With our aggressive defense, it's always the risk that you take. It's high risk, high reward.

“We want everyone in the game to stay out of foul trouble,” Ackerman added. “There's always an effort to not foul.”

And there's always an effort to get better.

Osborn is sometimes hard on her team.

“I'll pull them into film and I won't tell them what they did well,” Osborn said. “I'll tell them, 'Here comes the criticism.' But they're good at taking it.”

Osborn is also good at giving her team some rest and relaxation.

That was what “Yoga Friday” was all about.

“She thought it would calm us down and get relaxed,” said Kadlubek, who couldn't make the yoga session. “When she told us about it, we were so excited. We were screaming, 'Yeah! Yoga!'”

Raabe said the yoga was exactly what the team needed at exactly the right time.

“We love team bonding things like that,” Raabe said. “We had all these games almost back-to-back and in between we were going fast at practice. She knew we needed a relaxing day.”

Because on game night, the Rockets are anything but relaxing to play against.

And — gasp — Slippery Rock may just get even more tenacious and relentless.

“We never want to stay the same,” Ackerman said. “If we stay the same, what's the point in that? Always learning how to push ourselves is always a good goal to have for now and forever.”