news

FOLLOWING the Easter Break, normal transmission resumes in the SBL this week and the Round 4 Women’s action begins on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks taking on the Cockburn Cougars and the Lakeside Lightning facing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

All 12 Women’s SBL teams played last Thursday night leading into the Easter Break leaving the Mandurah Magic, Willetton Tigers, Cockburn Cougars and Lakeside Lightning all undefeated while the Stirling Senators, South West Slammers and East Perth Eagles are still to taste victory.

Now the Round 4 action is spread over Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoon with two games apiece.

It gets underway on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks playing the Cockburn Cougars at Belmont Oasis and the Lakeside Lightning facing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Lakeside Recreation Centre. Both tip-off at 6.30pm.

Then on Saturday night, the Perry Lakes Hawks play the Rockingham Flames at Bendat Basketball Centre and the Stirling Senators face the Joondalup Wolves at Warwick Stadium. They begin at 6pm.

Lastly on Sunday afternoon, the Mandurah Magic play the Willetton Tigers at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre from midday before the Joondalup Wolves take on the South West Slammers at HBF Arena from 2pm.

LIGHTNING LOOK TO TURN SEMI-FINAL PAIN INTO STRONGER 2018 
THURSDAY NIGHT WOMEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 3 

Round 4 of the Women’s SBL begins on Friday night with the Redbacks taking on the Cougars.

Both teams have made impressive starts to the season too with the Redbacks scoring wins against Kalamunda and Joondalup since an opening night loss at the hands of Lakeside.

Meanwhile, Cockburn has started life under new coach Megan Thompson strongly with wins against East Perth and Perry Lakes – the two bookends from last season.

That sets the stage for a terrific contest on Friday night with the Cougars needing to find a way to slow down the trio of Kayla Standish, Makailah Dyer and Mikayla Pirini if they hope to remain unbeaten in 2018.

The other Friday night fixture sees the Lightning host the Eastern Suns.

Coming off reaching the semi finals in 2017 and pushing the Mandurah Magic to three games, the Lightning have started off 2018 in impressive fashion with wins against the Redbacks, Hawks and Eastern Suns.

They will aim to keep that winning form going on their home floor on Friday against an Eastern Suns team who has beaten the Eagles and Slammers, but lost to the Redbacks and Wolves so far in 2018.

There are then two matches on Saturday night opening with the defending champion Hawks taking on a Flames team trying to become a contender once again.

It has been an up and down start for both teams to date this season as they await being at full strength. Perry Lakes is still missing Nat Burton and Toni Edmondson, and so far they have already lost more games in 2018 as they did in all of 2017 on the way to the championship.

The Lady Hawks lost just twice in all of 2017 but the going has been tougher so far in 2018 with defeats at the hands of Mandurah, Lakeside and Cockburn. Their one win came against the wooden spooners of 2017 and winless team of 2018 to date, East Perth.

Meanwhile, Rockingham is still awaiting the arrival of its two imports but have had Darcee Garbin over the opening three rounds that saw them start off with a win against the Senators and then losing to the Magic last Thursday night.

Also on Saturday night is the Senators taking on the Lady Wolfpack at Warwick Stadium in a contest between two teams with just the one win between them over the opening three rounds.

Stirling’s season hasn’t started how coach Glenn Clarke hoped with losses to Rockingham, Willetton and Lakeside. The Senators certainly won’t want to slip to 0-4 to start 2018 but they have a big ask up against a Wolves team trying to avoid slipping to 1-3 as well.

The Round 4 action continues on Sunday in Mandurah with the battle of two undefeated teams as the Magic host the Tigers.

The game certainly shapes as the game of the Women’s SBL season to date with the Magic so far on fire coming off the Grand Final appearance of last year.

Mandurah has beaten the Hawks by 24 points, Slammers by 19 points and Flames by 24 points so far this season. Now on Sunday they celebrate the 450th appearance in the league of the legend Casey Mihovilovich, who is showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down.

And the Tigers have been on fire beating Joondalup, Stirling and South West on the back of Sami Whitcomb averaging a simply remarkable 37.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 59.7 per cent from the field and 44.4 per cent from three-point territory.

That sets the stage for a terrific Sunday afternoon battle in Mandurah with top spot on the Women’s SBL after four rounds up for grabs.

The round concludes at 2pm on Sunday at HBF Arena with the Wolves hosting the Slammers.

The Lady Wolfpack will be coming off playing Stirling on Saturday night while the Slammers make their only appearance of Round 4 hoping for a first win of 2018 following losses to the Eastern Suns, Magic and Tigers.

WOMEN’S SBL FIXTURES – WEEK 4
FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks v Cockburn Cougars – Belmont Oasis 6.30pm
Lakeside Lightning v Kalamunda Eastern Suns – Lakeside Recreation Centre 6.30pm

SATURDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks v Rockingham Flames – Bendat Basketball Centre 6.00pm
Stirling Senators v Joondalup Wolves – Warwick Stadium 6.00pm

SUNDAY
Mandurah Magic v Willetton Tigers – Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 12.00pm
Joondalup Wolves v South West Slammers – HBF Arena 2.00pm