Unbeaten Flames, Lightning battle it out (Week 7 Women's SBL Preview)
THE ANZAC Weekend of women's SBL begins on Thursday night but the undisputed game of the round will have to wait until Sunday when the battle of the competition's team unbeaten teams, Rockingham and Lakeside, takes place.
The Week 7 action begins on Thursday night to begin the Anzac Day long weekend with two women's matches.
Both games tip-off at 6.30pm with the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers taking on the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames at Eaton Recreation Centre, and the Schweigen East Perth Eagles doing battle with the Cockburn Cougars at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.
The Flames have won their opening seven matches of the season to be sitting atop the women's SBL standings as they take on a Slammers team who started the season with a win, but have now lost their last three matches.
The clash is a rematch of the 2012 grand final won by South West and is the second meeting in the past two weeks between the two clubs.
Back on April 11, the Flames beat the Slammers 82-65 that time at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.
Rockingham will be out to win its eighth straight match to open the season to ensure it heads into Sunday's clash with Lakeside still undefeated, while South West will be desperate to stop its three-game losing slide.
Thursday night's other match pits the Eagles up against the Cougars with East Perth looking for its third win of 2014 already after just one victory in all of 2013 while Cockburn needs to stop a two-game losing slide that has seen it drop to a 3-2 record.
There is then just the one match to be played on Anzac Day and that takes place at midday at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Willetton Tigers hosting the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
The Tigers are coming off winning last year's minor premiership but things are yet to click in 2014 with them sitting on just a 2-4 record as they come up against an Eastern Suns team also yet to fire coming off making last year's grand final.
The Suns sit on just a 2-5 record so both teams will be desperate for an Anzac Day victory to get their season on track.
Kalamunda did manage to beat Willetton in both meetings between the two teams last year as well as one of the two clashes in 2012, so taking on the Tigers holds no fears for the Suns that are for sure.
There are then two matches on Saturday night with the 6pm match pitting the Perry Lakes Hawks up against the Perth Redbacks at the WA Basketball Centre and then at 6.30pm, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns do battle with the Mandurah Magic at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
The Hawks go into their clash with the Redbacks having won just one of their last three games to sit on a 3-3 record while Perth is yet to record a win in 2014 from eight matches.
The Eastern Suns then back up their Anzac Day clash with the Tigers by hosting a Magic team fresh for their only match of the weekend and coming off winning three straight games, and five of their seven so far in 2014.
The round then concludes with the one match on Sunday, but it just happens to be the biggest game of the women's SBL season to date pitting the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames up against the Lakeside Lightning.
The match tips-off at 12pm at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and everything points to an encounter for the ages.
The game will be the Lightning's only match of the Anzac Weekend while for the Flames they will come into it having already played the Slammers on Thursday.
Rockingham comes into the weekend having won its first seven matches of 2014 and Lakeside having won its first six, so the two teams have been the two standouts of the first six rounds and now the winner on Sunday between the Flames and Lightning will deservedly be the women's championship favourites.
WEEK 7 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
THURSDAY
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers v Orange Autos Rockingham Flames, Eaton Recreation Centre 6.30pm
Schweigen East Perth Eagles v Cockburn Cougars, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 6.30pm
FRIDAY
Willetton Tigers v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Willetton Basketball Stadium 12pm
SATURDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks v Perth Redbacks, WA Basketball Centre 6pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Mandurah Magic, Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm
SUNDAY
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames v Lakeside Lightning, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 12pm
Article by Chris Pike
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