THE Rockingham Flames will look to signal they are still a threat in the Women's SBL on Friday night against the Perth Redbacks in Tarsha Fletcher's 350th appearance in one of a host of fascinating Week 8 contests.

Week 8 of the Women's SBL begins on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks playing the Rockingham Flames at Belmont Oasis and the Stirling Senators playing the Joondalup Wolves at Warwick Stadium.

Then on Saturday night, the South West Slammers face the Perry Lakes Hawks at Eaton Recreation Centre, the East Perth Eagles tackle the undefeated Mandurah Magic at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre and the Cockburn Cougars host the Willetton Tigers at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Finally on Sunday afternoon at Ray Owen Sports Centre, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns play the South West Slammers.

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The round begins on Friday night with the Redbacks hosting the Flames.

Perth lost last Friday night to the Perry Lakes Hawks at home but bounced back 24 hours later to beat the Cougars. The Redbacks will now look to topple Rockingham and improve on their 4-3 record.

The Flames are in unfamiliar territory at 3-4 and in eighth position heading into the clash, but their new import Chastity Reed finally arrived and was cleared to play last week in the loss to Willetton.

She will be better for that run and even though Rockingham might still not be at full strength with some other key players missing, they will look to rise to the occasion for dual championship winner Tarsha Fletcher.

She will be playing her 350th game in the clash on Friday night having been an outstanding and durable servant for the Flames.

She began her SBL career back in 2001 playing with Rockingham for the first six seasons before joining the Mandurah Magic in 2007. She also played at the Redbacks in 2013 before returning to Rockingham in 2014 and going on to play in the championships of the next two seasons.

The other Friday night game should be fascinating as well with the dangerous Senators hosting a Lady Wolfpack team desperate for a win.

Stirling has been impressive this season remaining in third position with a 5-2 record with the only two losses coming courtesy of the Lady Hawks.

The Wolves are coming off last year's minor premiership and grand final appearance, but have now lost three straight including a 41-point thumping on their home floor by Mandurah last Saturday night.

That sets up an intriguing clash to see if Joondalup can bounce back or if Stirling can inflict another blow upon them.

Then on Saturday night, the Slammers return home facing the unenviable task of trying to hand Perry Lakes its first loss of the season.

The Lady Hawks improved to a perfect 7-0 record beating the Redbacks last Friday night at Belmont Oasis by 16 points.

The Slammers have lost their past four matches after two of their first three to start the season under new coach Peter Harper. Stopping that losing slide looks a big ask against the unbeaten Perry Lakes.

East Perth also faces a significant task on its home floor up against Mandurah on Saturday night.

The Magic are also undefeated after six games this season and are fresh off a 41-point thumping of the Wolves.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have just the one win to their credit in seven attempts this season as they look to make it a contest against Mandurah.

The final Saturday night clash pits the Cougars up against the Tigers.

Cockburn has won just once also this season but with Kersten Mitchell, BJ Moyes and Lindsey Doucette in their line-up, they are significantly better than a usual 1-6 team.

But getting a winning run going will be no easy task up against the defending champion Tigers who looked impressive beating the Flames and Slammers last weekend with Stacey Barr, Jess Hootmann, Kate Malpass and Zoe Harper playing together for the first time.

Willetton coach Simon Parker won't be taking Cockburn lightly, but does feel the Tigers match up well with the Cougars.

"It will be an interesting game. We have a bye after this game, so our goal is to make sure we are 7-3 after it," Parker said.

"We will do what we have to do. We seem to match up better against those guys, which is good, and we are looking forward to putting in another good performance."

Then on Sunday, the Slammers back up their clash at home to the Hawks on Saturday night by taking on a Kalamunda team who only lost to Willetton by five points back on ANZAC Day after getting its first win of the season over East Perth three days prior.

WEEK 8 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks v Rockingham Flames – Belmont Oasis 6.30pm
Stirling Senators v Joondalup Wolves – Warwick Stadium 6.30pm

SATURDAY
South West Slammers v Perry Lakes Hawks – Eaton Recreation Centre 6pm
East Perth Eagles v Mandurah Magic – Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 6pm
Cockburn Cougars v Willetton Tigers – Wally Hagan Stadium 6pm

SUNDAY
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v South West Slammers – Ray Owen Sports Centre 12pm

Photo by Vikki Hile