THE Rockingham Flames have made an unbeaten start to their women's SBL championship defence but coach Ryan Petrik is looking forward to challenge this Easter Weekend up against the Cockburn Cougars and Perry Lakes Hawks.

Coming off winning a historic first SBL championship last year, the Flames have opened the new season with a 31-point win over the East Perth Eagles and then a 23-point win over the Perth Redbacks last week in their home opener.

They unfurled their banner before that win over the Redbacks last Friday night and suffered some injuries in the first half but Tarsha Fletcher was able to return and then Darcee Garbin and Samantha Whitcomb got going to lead the team to the win.

Petrik was obviously happy with the celebration of raising the championship banner, and then for his team to hit their straps in the second half after a bit of a slow start.

"Raising the banner minutes before tipoff was always going to mean our minds were elsewhere, and it showed in the first half," Petrik said.

"It didn’t help that Clayton hit everything and the Redbacks played really well, and then Tarsha and Jessie both went down and we looked like we were in a bit of trouble.

"But the girls regrouped pretty quickly at halftime. Tarsha made her way back onto the court, and along with Darcee and Sami, we regained momentum and held on the rest of the way."

The Flames now won't be at full strength over the Easter Weekend for their double starting on Saturday night against the Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium and then at Mike Barnett Sports Complex to the Hawks on Monday with tip-off set for midday.

However, Petrik is looking forward to the challenge both will provide with the Cougars led tremendously by playing-coach Deanna Smith, and the Hawks having won two of their first three matches this season.

"We’ll play undermanned all weekend which obviously doesn’t increase our chances of winning, but it does force us to use our role players and players that haven’t seen a lot of time so far a bit more," Petrik said.

"So from that aspect we’re really looking forward to the challenge, both Cockburn and Perry Lakes have jumped out of the gate and are off to impressive starts, so those players getting more time than normal will need to play well if they’re going to want time when the rest of the pieces get back onto the court."

Article by Chris Pike