Rock Creek Christian Academy has won seven games over the past three season, including just one a year ago.

Yet, Lion coach Bill Paro said there is reason for optimism in 2009-10.

“I think I’ve got it pretty easy this year, because we had one victory last year and we can’t do anything but get better,” he said.

Rock Creek’s 15th-year coach believes that his team will be significantly better.

“To (the team), I haven’t set a win-loss goal. For myself, I’m shooting for .500,” Paro said. The Lions haven’t had double-digits in the win column since 2004-05 when they went 14-8 under Paro.

Senior Kenika Quarles has even high aspirations than 10 wins for the Lions.

“We’re going to win half or more,” Quarles stated. “We’re not going to win one, two or three games here or there. We want to do something big.”

Although Rock Creek doesn’t return a great deal of players from last year’s team — Quarles and center Kelli Davidson are the most experienced returnees — it’s not talent that will be the factor in more victories in 2009-10, Paro said.

“I’ve challenged them more, pushing them a lot harder and trying to build a team that is more intense,” he said. “I’ve never had a more unified team. The skil level may not be that high and I have a lot of young players, but we’re a very unified team.

“Our expectations are high, because I have girls who want to be here. We’re small in numbers, but the intensity is there.”

“For this season, it’s going to be completely different,” Quarles said. “We’re going to work as a team, instead of everyone worrying about their points. It’s a completely different outlook. We’re going to be positive for every game.”

The positive outlook starts with Quarles, a 5-foot-5 senior who averaged five points, two rebounds and 1.7 assists as a junior.

“She’s been with me for four years,” Paro said. “She lifts up our girls. She wants to be successful and she’s going to do what it takes to be successful. She’s extremely important, because there really isn’t anyone out there with experience.”

“I think she’s really important. She really encourages us and picks us up,” sophomore Sierra Allen said of Quarles.

Quarles said being the team leader is a job she takes very seriously.

“I try to look out for the girls,” she said. “I feel like it’s my responsiblilty to help the team and encourage the team through anything — on the court and off the court.”

Besides Quarles and Davidson, who averaged three points and four boards as a freshmen, Paro said he will be counting on Allen — a transfer from Silver Creek — and freshman point guard Kaelin James.

With four freshmen and four sophomores, Rock Creek’s future is bright, but Paro doesn’t want to wait for upcoming seasons to experience success.

“We have a nice future, but I’m not waiting for the future. We want to win now,” he said.