THE Willetton Tigers and Joondalup Wolves are one win away from booking their spots in the Women's SBL Grand Final for 2016 with the Rockingham Flames and Perry Lakes needing to win Game 2 of the semi-final match ups on Friday night to stay alive.

Both Game 2 semi-final matches take place on Friday night with the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers taking on the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames at Willetton Basketball Stadium and the Perry Lakes Hawks hosting the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Wins for the Tigers and/or Wolves and they are straight through to next Friday's Grand Final. However, if the two-time defending champion Flames win then Game 3 will take place on Saturday night on their home floor at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

And if the Hawks are able to beat the minor premier Wolves, then Game 3 in that series will be also on Saturday night at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Parker's faith in Tigers players paying dividends 
No complacency by Lady Wolfpack against dangerous Hawks 
Flames hoping Game 1 calamity was a one-off bad night 
Jackson hopes comforts of home help settle semi-final nerves 
Women's SBL Q&A – Kate Malpass 
Week 1 Women's SBL Semi Final Saturday night wrap 
Week 1 Women's SBL Semi Final Friday night wrap 

Game 1 between the Flames and Tigers took place at Mike Barnett Sports Complex in what is a Grand Final rematch from last year, and it was a remarkably dominant performance by Willetton to end up winning 82-59 on the road.

The Tigers held the Flames to 29 per cent shooting, outrebounded them by 11 and forced them into 15 turnovers while Kate Malpass was outstanding with 28 points, five rebounds and five assists.

It was the evenness of the contribution from all seven Willetton players that was most impressive with Desiree Kelley adding 12 points, five boards, three assists and three steals, Louella Tomlinson 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks and Ebony Antonio 10 points and nine boards.

Zoe Harper also had eight points and 10 rebounds, Lara Napier six points, seven boards and four assists, and Emma Lobb six points.

The Tigers were just more intense and desperate at both ends of the floor than Rockingham to take the advantage in the series heading into Game 2 on its home floor.

Willetton coach Simon Parker isn’t sure Rockingham will look to do much differently, but he knows they will play significantly better and is looking forward to seeing his team rise to the challenge.

"I don’t think they would change a whole lot, I think they will still go with what they're doing. It will be interesting to see what Ryan does. I know he will be thinking about it all week and watching a lot of tape, but I don’t think offensive wise they will change too much of what they do," Parker said.

"I know we can beat them. We just do all the little things right and sometimes you know you can beat teams. Ideally you don’t want to play them in the semi finals, but at least with three games you can actually work on stuff.

"But in the Grand Final you only get one opportunity. We know we can beat them, it's just a matter of working hard again. We outworked them in Game 1 and we need to do that again."

Little went right all night in the opening game for the Flames as they lost their first playoff game since the 2013 semi finals.

The task ahead is now to win twice inside 24 hours away and at home to make another Grand Final but Rockingham coach Ryan Petrik is solely focused on trying to win that Game 2 on Friday before even thinking about Saturday.

"We were in this position when we made the 2012 Grand Final. We lost Game 1 up at Kalamunda and had Games 2 and 3 at home, and won twice in 24 hours. We had the depth to do that then and we think we do now," Petrik said.

"The positive is that we have Game 3 at home, but we aren’t worried about trying to win two games in 24 hours. We are only worrying about Friday because if we serve up a similar performance we are going home in two.

"We need to take care of Game 2 and if that means we flog girls to get through, so be it. We have to do everything to get to a Game 3."

Game 1 between the Wolves and Hawks at Joondalup Basketball Stadium last Saturday was all but over during the first quarter as the Lady Wolfpack got out to a 15-1 lead. They ended up being up 51-14 at half-time before winning 80-50.

The Hawks appeared overawed by the occasion in the first half but did steady after half-time to actually outscore the Wolves by seven.

Perry Lakes coach CJ Jackson took some heart from that and now is looking forward to a significantly better performance on their home floor on Friday to put the pressure back on Joondalup by forcing a Game 3.

"One of the biggest things is that we have a very good home record and I think we play a lot better at home where the lights are brighter, we have a bigger floor and we cover the territory well," Jackson said.

"A lot of teams don’t like coming in and playing at that gym so I think for us to play at home in front of our blue and white fans, I think you will see a better team. I really do think we'll be a better team and we'll give a better team effort.

"I didn’t see that we had a good team effort in the first game. We had good individual plays but as a group and a team, I really can't put a case to say that we played well."

The Wolves will be without centre Ellyce Ironmonger for Game 2 and if Game 3 is required but Shani Amos, Klara Wischer, Nikita-Lee Martin, Amy Kidner and Sherelle Knight all had strong performances in the opening game.

Joondalup coach Craig Friday is looking forward to Friday's Game 2 at Bendat Basketball Centre and is hoping his next two games are both at that venue without a decider required on Saturday night back at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

"Nothing changes for us, it's about the team. The ability for us to play team basketball is important and we'll continue to focus and work on that. Hopefully that's good enough to beat Perry Lakes next weekend," Friday said.

"We go down there on that venue and have only played there once this year so it will be nice and it will be a good hit out for us.

"We'll put the same effort into this game as we have every other game. We'll be putting everything onto the line for Friday night and if we have to, we'll recover and go again for Game 3."

WOMEN'S SEMI-FINAL GAME 2 SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers v Orange Autos Rockingham Flames, Willetton Basketball Stadium 6.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves, Bendat Basketball Centre 7pm

WOMEN'S SEMI-FINAL GAME 3 SBL FIXTURES (if required)
SATURDAY
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 7pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Perry Lakes Hawks, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 6pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photos by June Halliday & Serene-Elise Photography