SLIPPERY ROCK — There were more than a few Slippery Rock HighSchool students looking a bit red in the face Thursday morning.

And red in the arms, legs and stomachs.

During the Rockets girls basketball team's playoff run, Slippery Rock fans have applied red body paint on themselves to support their team.

It didn't quite wash out after the Slippery Rock PIAA Class AAA playoff win against Lewisburg Wednesday night.

"They all looked like they went tanning and got burned," said SlipperyRock senior point guard Jence Rhoads.

A little morning-after paint won't stop these zealots, though.

The SlipperyRock fans have come out in droves to support the Rockets and have the paint stains to prove it.

Senior Britney Miller said the body paint trend began as a way to take the playoff experience a step further.

"It just adds affect," Miller said. "We just all decided to do it, basically because it looks cool."

Slippery Rock brought three buses loaded with fans to Wednesday night's game againstLewistown at Central Cambria HighSchool.

Their presence turned a two-hour road trip into a virtual home game for the Rockets.

They were loud. They were raucous — and they were very, very red.

"We feel like we give them confidence by being loud and stuff," Miller said.

Before each game, the fans take the body paint with them to the game.

When they arrive, they haul it into the bathroom and become regular Rembrandts.

"We just emerge — all red," Miller said.

The fans also have adopted coach Adrienne Orris as a cult hero.

Before the game Wednesday, they chanted "Orris, Orris" and she greeted them with high fives.

For a while, it looked like a scene from a rock concert, with Orris poised to crowd surf.

"She's the main reason we've all come out," said senior Catherine Fodor. "It's never been like this before. She's changed the basketball program. I think she fits in better with us."

Orris has encouraged the fans to come out and support the team.

An English teacher at Slippery Rock HighSchool, she has been very active in preparing the fans for their profound affect at the games.

"It definitely makes it more fun," Orris said. "Part of it is my girls are so well liked at school and are such positive role models that the whole school wants to get behind them."

Miller said Orris has been a role model, too.

"Basically, coach Orris gave us the idea," Miller said. "She's one of us. If it was the boys team still playing, she'd probably be up in the stands painted red with us."