THE Willetton Tigers and Cockburn Cougars open Week 2 of the Women's SBL on Friday night both looking for their first wins of 2017 but that's just one of five terrific match ups this weekend.

There are two Women's SBL games on Friday night with the Willetton Tigers hosting the Cockburn Cougars at Willetton Basketball Stadium and the Lakeside Lightning hosting the Mandurah Magic at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

Then on Saturday night, the South West Slammers play the Perth Redbacks at Eaton Recreation Centre, the Stirling Senators take on the Rockingham Flames at Warwick Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns battle the Perry Lakes Hawks at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

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Friday night features the defending champion Tigers hosting the Cougars.

Willetton opened its championship defence last Saturday night with a 14-point loss at home to the Magic, but the Tigers were without some key players including Zoe Harper and yet-to-arrive import Jessica Hootmann.

Cockburn also started the new season with a loss by just two points against the Joondalup Wolves at Joondalup Basketball Stadium meaning both finalists from last year will be looking to avoid an 0-2 start.

Cougars coach John Triscari knows it's another significant test for his team. New import Shanara Clark isn’t expected to play, but with Kersten Mitchell, Brianna Moyes and Steph Jones as new faces this year, he's looking forward to seeing how his team stacks up against the Tigers.

"I'd expect some improvement this week but it's another acid test against the premiership side from last year who were missing quite a few players in their first game," Triscari said.

"They will be trying really hard this week I'm guessing so it's another big test, but that's good at this time of year to find out where you're at."

Friday night's other fixture pits two winning teams from the opening round up against one another when the Lightning face the Magic.

Lakeside beat the Slammers at Eaton last Saturday night by 11 points while Mandurah was impressive beating Willetton by 14 on the road.

Despite both missing some key players still, both teams feature plenty of talent including imports Ali Schwagmeyer and Nic Gilday, and going 2-0 to start the season will be a big boost for two teams who played finals in 2016.

Then on Saturday night, two teams with high hopes entering 2017 who lost in the opening round will lock horns at Eaton Recreation Centre with the Slammers hosting the Redbacks.

Under new coach Peter Harper and with a new import Brittany Hodges, the Slammers are looking to improve vastly this year but they did begin with an 11-point loss at home last Saturday night.

They won't want to lose two home games to start the season but the Redbacks too have reason to be aiming high this year with the arrival of Emilee Harmon to a group including Lisa Wallbutton, Ajay Jones, Rebecca Benson and Bianca Donovan.

The Senators host their home opener on Saturday night against a Flames team that might have lost Darcee Garbin, Sami Whitcomb and Ifunanya Ibekwe. However, Rockingham still looked good beating Perth last Friday night by 15 points despite not being at full strength.

Stirling fought hard but ended up losing to the Hawks by 15 points despite strong games by imports Kisha Lee and Jasmine Martin. They will again need to come up big if the Senators are to take down the Flames.

The Eastern Suns are still awaiting the arrival of imports Devanny King and Jennie Rintala heading into their home opener against the Hawks on Saturday night as well.

Kalamunda lost to East Perth by 19 points last Friday night while Perry Lakes was impressive under new coach Deanna Smith beating Stirling by 15 points with a good spread between Nat Burton, Toni Edmondson, Sarah Donovan, Lauren Jeffers and Kate Anthony.

WEEK 2 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Mandurah Magic – Lakeside Recreation Centre 6.30pm
Willetton Tigers v Cockburn Cougars – Willetton Basketball Stadium 6.30pm

SATURDAY
South West Slammers v Perth Redbacks – Eaton Recreation Centre 6pm
Stirling Senators v Rockingham Flames – Warwick Stadium 6pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Perry Lakes Hawks – Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm

Photo by Vikki Hile