THE Rockingham Flames and Willetton Tigers were the two standout women's SBL teams during the 2015 regular season, but both will now face stern tests against the Mandurah Magic and Joondalup Wolves in the semi finals starting this Saturday night.

Both semi-final Game 1 matches will take place on Saturday night and each will tip-off at 7pm with the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves taking on the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, and the Mandurah Magic facing the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

Starting with the battle between the third seeded Wolves and second seeded Tigers, it's a clash featuring two teams who right throughout the 2015 season have appeared capable of being genuine championship contenders but only one of them will make the grand final.

The Lady Wolfpack ended up in third position at the end of the regular season with an 18-4 record and then had little trouble in the semi finals despatching of the South West Slammers in two games by 23 and 53 points respectively.

The Tigers, meanwhile, kept pace with the minor premier Flames right throughout the season and only missed taking top spot by one solitary point, and then cruised through their quarter-final match up against the Perry Lakes Hawks in two games.

With the Wolves on a seven-game winning run now and the Tigers having won 12 straight, both come into the series with outstanding form but the Wolfpack will be desperate in particular to win Game 1 on Saturday night given Willetton has won all 12 of its games at home in 2015.

And with plenty of stars on either side with the Wolves led by Rebecca Mercer, Nikita-Lee Martin, Shani Amos, Casey Lockwood and Antonia Edmondson, and the Tigers by Louella Tomlinson, Kate Malpass, Ebony Antonio, Zoe Harper and Lisa Wallbutton, it should be quite the contest.

The two teams first met in the opening round of the season on a Sunday afternoon with the Tigers beating the Wolves 75-60 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium with Willetton then winning at home over Joondalup 71-65 in Week 13.

The other semi-final match up features the two local rivals from the Peel region with the Flames taking on the Magic.

Both teams feature the two players likely to lead the MVP voting this year as well with Rockingham's Sami Whitcomb and Mandurah's Casey Mihovilovich, but each team features a strong support cast as well setting up what should be a terrific battle in front of some hot crowds.

The Magic will host Game 1 on Saturday night but interestingly they won just seven of 11 games at home during the regular season while being able to win eight of 11 on the road.

Mandurah ended the regular season in fourth position and then was able to beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns in two games in the quarter finals to advance to the semi finals to clash with Rockingham with a grand final berth at stake.

Rockingham is coming off winning the club's first ever SBL championship last year and was able to again finish on top at the end of the regular season with a 20-2 record, having lost just once at home and once on the road for the season.

That one loss at home did came at the hands of the Magic in Week 7 when Mandurah won in Rockingham 71-62 before the Flames hit back in Mandurah in Week 19 with a 84-68 victory.

WEEK 1 WOMEN'S SEMI FINAL SBL FIXTURES
SATURDAY
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 7pm
Mandurah Magic v Orange Autos Rockingham Flames, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 7pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by June Halliday