Week 7 Women's SBL Preview

THE Bethanie Stirling Senators are primed to come back from a bye in the Women's SBL to take on the Lakeside Lightning on Saturday night in just one of six tantalising Week 7 matches.

The Women's SBL action for Week 7 begins on Friday night with the Perry Lakes Hawks (5-1) taking on the Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles (1-6) and the Print Sync South West Slammers (0-6) battling the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers (5-1).

Then there are four matches on Saturday night with the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars (3-5) hosting the Textile WA Perth Redbacks (4-2), the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro City of Joondalup Wolves (4-1) hosting the South West Slammers, the Lakeside Lightning (2-4) playing the Stirling Senators (3-4) and the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames (6-1) taking on the Kalamunda Eastern Suns (3-3).

The games see the so far winless Slammers have a huge task to avoid slipping to 0-8 by the end of Saturday night with games against a Tigers team who has been dominant aside from a one-point loss to the Eastern Suns, and then they face the one-loss Lady Wolfpack on Saturday night as well.

The Senators currently sit just inside the top eight and the Lightning are just outside making Saturday night's clash at Lakeside Recreation Centre a crucial one for both teams.

The two teams have already played this season back in the opening round and that was a thriller with the Senators prevailing 67-66 at Warwick Stadium so this Saturday night should be no different.

The Lightning come into the contest having lost three of their last four games but Alison Schwagmeyer has been in scintillating form earning Team of the Week honours three times already in 2016.

She is averaging 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.3 steals a game. If Courtney Byrnes, Ashleigh Grant, Devanny King and company can stand up on Saturday night, coach Craig Mansfield will be confident of a strong showing.

Meanwhile, the Senators had the bye last weekend following a strong 76-68 win on the road to the Perth Redbacks that ended a three-game losing slide where they went down to the Hawks, Suns and Magic.

Amber Land has been the star of the season so far for Stirling with 13.7 points and 10.9 rebounds a game, but she's been receiving plenty of support from Taylor Bestry, Lyndal Gardner, Tegan Walker, Kara van Dyke, Chelsea Armstrong, Fiona Madden, Amanda Beatson and Bridget Henderson.

It's that depth that has been impressive this season so far the Senators under new coach Glenn Clarke. The former Willetton Tigers three-peat championship mentor is confident his team will come out strong on Saturday night after some hard work over the bye week.

"The Stirling WSBL group have had a week off after a run of double headers and now recharging the batteries," Clarke said.

"On Saturday night we play Lakeside and I know they will be coming out of the blocks hard due to their loss in Stirling on game one and losing to Cockburn last week.

"Every game we are playing I am seeing areas that we are getting so much better and growing strong as a solid group. With the week bye and a great week of training sessions the girls will be ready to do battle."

WEEK 7 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks v Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles, Bendat Basketball Centre 6.30pm
Print Sync South West Slammers v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Eaton Recreation Centre 6.30pm

SATURDAY
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars v Textile WA Perth Redbacks, Wally Hagan Stadium 6pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro City of Joondalup Wolves v Print Sync South West Slammers, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 6pm
Lakeside Lightning v Bethanie Stirling Senators, Lakeside Recreation Centre 6pm
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 6.30pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Create A Team App Account.

Stack Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their own smartphone app.

Create A Team/Club