THE Willetton Tigers have the chance to unseat the defending champion Rockingham Flames on top of the women's SBL standings this Saturday night when the top two teams do battle at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

There are four women's SBL matches on Friday night all with a 6.30pm tip-off with the Lakeside Lightning taking on the Mandurah Magic at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Perry Lakes Hawks hosting the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Bendat Basketball Centre.

The Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars will also be facing the Perth Redbacks at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers battling the Stirling Senators at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The round then concludes with three matches on Saturday starting at 6pm with the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves playing the Schweigen East Perth Eagles at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Then at 6.30pm, the Perth Redbacks face the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Curtin Stadium and the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames face off with the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The action begins on Friday night with the Lightning hosting the Magic with Lakeside coming off its first win of the season last Saturday night over the Perth Redbacks while Mandurah has now lost two straight to enter the contest in fourth position in the standings with an 8-3 record.

The two teams have already met this year with the Magic prevailing in a tightly contested affair 67-57 at Mandurah back on April 10.

The Hawks have now lost two straight matches as well heading into their clash at home with the Eastern Suns on Friday night. Perry Lakes sits in fifth position with a 6-4 record while Kalamunda has found some strong form in recent times improving to a 4-5 record to sit in fifth spot.

The Cougars have been in up and down form led by playing-coach Deanna Smith but they will be looking to return to the winner's list on Friday and improve on a 5-7 record by taking on a Redbacks team that has now lost five straight matches to have slipped to a 2-8 record on the season.

The final match of Friday night to look at sees the Tigers begin their massive 24 hours by taking on the Senators at home.

Willetton enters the weekend on a 9-1 record to be in second position on the table behind the Rockingham Flames, but having won four straight matches the Tigers can now finish the round in top spot if they come away with the two victories starting Friday against the Senators.

The Senators come into the contest on a three-game losing streak and a 2-8 record to be three games at present out of eighth position.

Then on Saturday night, the third placed Wolves host the Eagles at Joondalup Basketball Stadium with the Lady Wolfpack now needing to win to improve on an 8-2 record to maintain touch with the top two teams.

Meanwhile, the Eagles have now strung two matches together on the back of a 24-match losing run and now an upset win on Saturday night could see them remain right in touch for eighth position.

The Redbacks then have to back up their clash with the Cougars on Friday night by hosting the Slammers on Saturday with South West entering the contest from sixth position on the table with a 5-5 record and looking to return to the positive in terms of the win-loss for the season so far.

The final match to look at for the weekend is then without question the match of the round featuring the top two teams, the Flames and Tigers.

Willetton will have already played on Friday night against the Senators while the Flames will come in fresh, but with both teams entering the round with 9-1 records, top spot goes on the line and it should be a tremendous battle.

With Rockingham featuring the likes of Samantha Whitcomb, Darcee Garbin, Jacinta Bourne, Talisia Bourne and Tarsha Fletcher, and Willetton with Louella Tomlinson, Kate Malpass, Zoe Harper, Ebony Antonio and Lisa Wallbutton

It should be a fascinating contest with the likely reward for the winner to sit atop the women's SBL standings after 10 rounds of the season.

WEEK 10 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Mandurah Magic, Lakeside Recreation Centre 6.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, WA Basketball Centre 6.30pm
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars v Perth Redbacks, Wally Hagan Stadium 6.30pm
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers v Stirling Senators, Willetton Basketball Stadium 6.30pm

SATURDAY
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Schweigen East Perth Eagles, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 6pm
Perth Redbacks v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Curtin Stadium 6.30pm
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 6.30pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin