THE winner of the Kalamunda-Cockburn women's SBL quarter-final series could very well go on and win the 2014 championship but one of the high-quality teams will also be eliminated in the first round in what is shaping as perhaps the most tantalising match up.

Both the Eastern Suns and Cougars women's teams entered the 2014 season with every reason to think they would end up as championship contenders, and now entering the playoffs there's no doubt that both of them have squads capable of going all the way when up and firing.

Kalamunda is coming off making a historic grand final appearance last year before losing to the Joondalup Wolves with the Eastern Suns now finishing the 2014 regular season in fourth position with a 14-8 record.

The Suns had a particularly strong finish to the season winning 11 of their last 13 games following a slow start with just three wins from their opening nine matches.

A big reason for that was the arrival of Alison Schwagmeyer who gave the Eastern Suns that gun player to go with the already strong core of Jennie Rintala, Adrienne Jones, Chelsea Armstrong, Jessie Edwards, Melissa Moyle and Sarah-Jane Knox.

While all that is good reason why Kalamunda deserves to be considered a genuine championship threat, there are just as many reasons going in favour of the Soprano Lady Cougars as well.

The Cougars enter the playoffs on a five-match winning streak ending up with a 13-9 record in fifth position and now having coach Deanna Smith up and about playing over the past four matches.

Then with Emma Pass, Marita Payne, Samantha Richards, Taryn Priestly and Chelsea Evans, the Cougars have more than enough firepower to be able to go all the way in 2014 if all things come together over the next month.

While the Rockingham Flames, Lakeside Lightning and Joondalup Wolves certainly deserve to be considered championships fancies as well, there's every chance the Suns and Cougars could have made for a fascinating grand final in 2014, but it comes early with the quarter-final match up.

Craig Mansfield has done an outstanding job in his time at the helm of the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, but 2014 will be his last season in charge and he would dearly love the chance to try and go one step better than last year when they made the grand final.

However, he knows that there is no way that the Suns can even begin to look beyond the Cougars heading into this Saturday night's Game 1 at Wally Hagan Stadium before next weekend Game 2 will take place at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night with Game 3, if required, on Sunday.

"The pretend season is finished now and we are excited to get stuck into the finals," Mansfield said.

"On many levels this series is a complete unknown. Our two regular season games can be disregarded, they were lopsided results as both teams had key players missing.

"Priestley, Pass and Payne have been fantastic for them all season and the recent addition of Deanna Smith gives them extra firepower on the perimeter to go with Sam Richards when healthy."

Mansfield knows that both sides will be fresh coming into Saturday night's Game 1 and given both not only hope to advance to the semi finals, but to seriously contend for the 2014 championship he knows the challenge that awaits his team.

"There’s no secrets to how we play, the key for us will be to work hard and pressure for all 40 minutes of every game, to be aware of who their key players are and the scout on these," he said.

"We are coming off the bye and Cougars have had a soft schedule in recent weeks, all these ingredients make predictions difficult, and without being disrespectful to anybody in the top eight, I believe two of the five potential championship teams are playing in this series."

Mansfield has no doubt that whichever way the quarter-final series will go, that the strength of both the teams mean that it's a great showcase of how strong SBL basketball is.

"What a great advertisement for the quality of the league and hopefully the contest can live up to the levels of talent," Mansfield said.

"If my maths is correct the series features two players who have represented Australia for the Opals (several girls who have represented Australia in junior teams), 11 girls who have played WNBL, and six girls who have played professionally in other countries."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin