SLIPPERY ROCK — Ali Doyle gathered pictures for her Slippery Rock High girls basketball scrap book.

One in particular gave the senior guard goose bumps.

"The first picture taken of all of us together was the fifth grade," Doyle said. "We have a bond that I don't think anyone can break."

The Rockets' six seniors, guards Karly Rhoads, Kourtney Rhoads, Taylor Crocker and Doyle, and forwards Sarah Cessar and Adele Campbell, are in the home stretch of their basketball careers at the school.

They are best of friends off the court. They are the enemies of every team on it with a symbiotic relationship that makes them more like Borg than a basketball team.

"We just have a sixth sense out there," Cessar said. "We know where everyone is going to be."

The playoff road continues at 7 tonight when Slippery Rock takes on Franklin in the District 10 Class AAA semifinals at Grove City High School.It's been an unusual run for the Rockets, a team that hasn't graduated a player in three years.That's changed the way they have looked at their past and present seasons."Really, our whole team is hungry," said Slippery Rock girls basketball coach Adrienne Orris. "Three years ago when I stood in front of this team after our last playoff game, I told them 'We have a long season.' We didn't have any juniors. We didn't have any sophomores. We knew we had three years together."For three years, we've treated it as one season."Slippery Rock is 72 games into their long campaign and has won 54 of them.But the Rockets were knocked out by Meadville in the first round of the district playoffs two years ago and suffered back-to-back losses to General McLane and Franklin in the postseason last year.Cessar said the playoff mentality has changed this time around.This is it. And they know it.

"Every year, when we lost in the playoffs, we knew, well, we have next year," Cessar said. "This time there is no next year. This is our last shot at doing something, at going out with a bang."With that urgency usually comes pressure — unless you are in the Rockets' locker room."We are close. We are all best friends," Doyle said. "We've been through good things and bad things together. I don't think the pressure has hit us yet. We're just enjoying it and having fun.""We play our best when we are having fun," Cessar said.The Rockets have been having fun a lot this season.Part of the reason for the fun — and winning — has been how well the pieces have fit together on the court.Each player has her specific strengths and plays to them on a nightly basis."We've been able to grow together as a team, to emphasize what we do well and minimize what we don't," Cessar said.One if the things the Rockets have done well is play defense.Slippery Rock held first-round playoff opponent Corry to three points in the first half Saturday."We chose to emphasize defense," Cessar said. "In the past, we've primarily been an offensive team. But we knew to do what we wanted to do, we needed to play defense."What they want to do is keep playing.Time is running out on this long Rockets season. Doyle said she and her teammates are cognizant of that fact and want to freeze time as long as possible before they scatter to the four winds."We don't want it to end," Doyle said."

Doyle