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ROUND 7 of the Women’s SBL begins on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves hosting the East Perth Eagles while Saturday night is highlighted by the on-fire Perth Redbacks taking on a Willetton Tigers now boosted by the presence of their two imports.

Round 6 of the Women’s SBL season concluded on Anzac Day with wins for the Willetton Tigers, Perth Redbacks and Stirling Senators against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Mandurah Magic and Cockburn Cougars.

While the Magic have the bye as their men’s team heads to Geraldton, the other five teams that played on Wednesday will now play on Saturday night while the Round 7 action begins on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves hosting the East Perth Eagles at HBF Arena.

There are then five matches on Saturday night with the Willetton Tigers playing the Perth Redbacks, the Rockingham Flames facing the Joondalup Wolves, the East Perth Eagles taking on the Lakeside Lightning, the South West Slammers battling the Cockburn Cougars and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns hosting the Stirling Senators.

ANZAC DAY WOMEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 6 

The lone Friday night contest in the Women’s SBL pits the Wolves up against the Eagles at HBF Arena.

The Lady Wolfpack are entering the game on the back of a solid 10-point home win against the Cockburn Cougars last Friday night to improve to a 3-3 record in sixth position on the standings.

They will now look to back that up against an East Perth team yet to win in 2018 in six attempts under new coach Tanya Fisher. The Eagles are the last remaining winless team in the Women’s SBL.

That all leads into a monster Saturday night of action with five matches made up of 10 of the 12 teams in the Women’s SBL all being in action.

It gets underway at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Tigers hosting the Redbacks in a tantalising match up.

The Tigers won on Anzac Day 88-78 against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns with the presence of imports Ashli Payne and Leah Cotton for the first time in 2018.

They will now receive a significantly tougher test on Saturday night against the Redbacks.

Willetton improved to a 4-1 record on the season with Wednesday’s win while the Redbacks won 84-68 against the Mandurah Magic on the road to have now won five straight matches since an opening night loss to the league-leading Lakeside Lightning.

Both teams look capable of being genuine contenders in 2018 and have only lost the one game apiece setting the stage for a terrific contest.

Redbacks coach Charles Nix is looking forward to the challenge.

“They have been such a quality team for so long that we know they are going to play the right way and that they will be super competitive,” Nix said.

“A lot of the girls haven’t won at Willetton before so for us it’s a real goal to go down there, really put the work in and hopefully execute well enough to get that monkey off the back. They are a great club and I respect them a great deal.”

Then also on Saturday night, the Flames host the Wolves at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The Lady Wolfpack will be coming off their game at home to the Eagles on Saturday night while the Flames enter the contest having beaten the South West Slammers and East Perth Eagles by a combined 59 points.

That improved the Flames to a 4-2 record on the season and it shapes as another tremendous battle with the Wolves on their home floor.

East Perth is another team to back up from playing on Friday night when the Eagles host the Lakeside Lightning at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The Eagles have two chances this weekend to get their first win of 2018 but Saturday night looks especially tough against a Lightning team sitting atop the Women’s SBL standings having won all six of their matches so far this season.

The Slammers will also host the Cougars at Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday night in another game tough to predict a winner.

The Slammers had been building some form with their imports Tori Fisher and Charlotte van Kleef combining, but that didn’t translate last Saturday night with a 27-point home defeat at the hands of Rockingham.

That saw the Slammers slip to a 2-5 record while the Cougars are now 2-4 as well following a four-point home defeat on Anzac Day at the hands of the Stirling Senators.

The last game of the round then takes place at 6.30pm on Saturday night with Kalamunda hosting Stirling at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

The Eastern Suns lost on the road to Willetton on Wednesday to slip to a 3-4 record while the Senators are now building some form having improved to 3-4 with wins over the Perry Lakes Hawks and Cockburn Cougars in Round 6.

WOMEN’S SBL FIXTURES – WEEK 7
FRIDAY
Joondalup Wolves v East Perth Eagles – HBF Arena 6.30pm

SATURDAY
Willetton Tigers v Perth Redbacks – Willetton Basketball Stadium 6.00pm
Rockingham Flames v Joondalup Wolves – Mike Barnett Sports Complex 6.00pm
East Perth Eagles v Lakeside Lightning – Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 6.00pm
South West Slammers v Cockburn Cougars – Eaton Recreation Centre 6.00pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Stirling Senators – Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm