SLIPPERY ROCK — Anna Kadlubek, Hallie Raabe and Maryann Ackerman try to keep a straight face, but a bout of the giggles gets to them.

“OK,” Raabe says. “Let's get serious.”

It lasts for only a few seconds before another burst of laughter erupts during the Slippery Rock High girls basketball photo day.

With the production the Rockets' trio has already put up, it's sometimes difficult to remember they are all just sophomores.

They laugh and rib each other. They enjoy each other's company almost as much as they enjoy scoring points, getting steals, grabbing rebounds.

And winning for Slippery Rock.

They did a lot of all of those things last season as freshmen, helping Slippery Rock to a District 10 5A championship.

“I was just going through the numbers the other day,” said Slippery Rock girls basketball coach Amber Osborn. “It's crazy to think we could have three 1,000-point scorers if they all stay healthy.”

Kadlubek, Raabe and Ackerman are determined to prove last year was just the start of a prodigious journey.

Kadlubek, a 5-foot-7 point guard, averaged 11.8 points, 2.4 assists and 2.6 steals per game in 2017-18; Raabe, a 5-8 forward, averaged 10.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per outing; Ackerman, a 5-5 guard who predominantly came off the bench, pitched in eight points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

They all think they can improve on those numbers.

“I'm pretty excited. I think we all are,” Raabe said. “We worked super hard over the summer. I think last year was just our beginning. We're not done yet.”

Raabe spent the offseason working on her outside shot.

Already effective in the paint with a knack of getting offensive rebounds, Raabe became more of a shooting threat near the end of last season.

She's trying to expand that aspect of her game.

“Last year I really didn't take too many 3s,” Raabe said. “I was kind of shy, I guess. At the start of the season, I wasn't real confident in myself, but as the season went on, I felt more comfortable shooting 3s and taking it to the hoop.”

Raabe also hopes to add a few rebounds per game to her total.

“I think that's just pick-up points,” Raabe said. “If you can rebound and put it back up and maybe get an and-one, that's easy points. I've worked on it, but it also comes naturally.”

What comes naturally to Kadlubek is her speed.

She put it on full display last season. But that speed also came with a price. Sometimes Kadlubek was, as she put it, “Spastic.”

“Slow things down,” Kadlubek said when describing the main thing she tried to work on this offseason. “Just calm down. Not be spastic. Calm everything down and stay in control.”

Osborn chimes in, “And take control.”

Kadlubek chuckles. “Yeah, take control.”

Osborn said she marvels at Kadlubek's speed, which is a major weapon as a point guard running the offense as well as on defense getting steals on the press.

“I think Anna is faster this year, if you can believe that,” Osborn said.

Ackerman, who had some big games early last season, is also poised to break out even more this year as a member of the starting lineup.

Ackerman's strength is her ability to do whatever needs to be done.

“Our team as a dynamic doesn't need that one person to do everything,” Ackerman said. “Finding a way to help the team out in the ways that we need it is probably the most important part of my game and how I play.”

Osborn is expecting big things from one of her smallest players.

“Maryann has improved tremendously,” Osborn said. “I don't know how tall she is, but she thinks she's 6-2 sometimes. If I tell her to guard a 6-4 kid, she'll be, 'That's fine. I'll take her.”

As the trio hold their composure enough to pose for a few pictures, the facade quickly melts away once the session is over.

They go back to laughing and joking and enjoying being in the gym with each other.

It's a friendship that was forged between Raabe and Kadlubek from a very early age and one that Ackerman joined in the sixth grade.

“Red (Raabe) and I have been friends forever,” Kadlubek said. “Maryann and I are very close, too. I think all of us on the team are very close in general. We get along very well and we just love being with each other.”