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WNBL Round 9 tips off tonight with the Lynx celebrating Alex Ciabattoni's 100th game while staring at a challenging round, home to the last-placed team Canberra, then away to league leader Townsville in a true test of its bona fides.   

The Capitals come west on a two-win streak before Perth flies out to Townsville which will be seething after losing its pre-Christmas match at home to Melbourne by 20.

That dramatically ended the Fire's 7-win streak while Canberra has now left its 8-loss streak in the dust with consecutive wins.

The Caps don't get their home refs in Perth though so don't expect a third straight Canberra party.

Breaking through last round despite the absence of Tess Madgen, Sydney now faces a raging Fire in an important fixture with playoff ramifications.

Melbourne should regain injured playmaking duo Jordin Canada and Aimie Rocci for its home game against Bendigo where shutting down Kelsey Griffin will be a key factor.

At home to Southside, Adelaide will again need to find that little bit extra it utilised to overcome the Boomers but which went missing in Lightning's road loss at Canberra.

ROUND 9 TIPS
Two teams at the top of their form, Perth at home will lower-case the Caps.
Beaten at home, if Townsville regains Sami Whitcomb it will beat Sydney.
Melbourne must produce another 40-minute effort to hold off Bendigo.
Up and down Adelaide is tough to predict, that’s why Southside starts favourite.
Perth has shown it‘s up for the fight but Townsville at home will prevail.

WNBL RANKINGS – WEEK 8
This          Last
Week       Week   Club
  1               2        Perth (7-3) Have earned the top ranking with a positive month.
  2               1        Townsville (8-2) Paid the price for complacency and will respond.
  3               4        Melbourne (7-4) Salvaged last round and now regaining key players.
  4               3        Southside (6-4) Need to bank Lightning and start the upward haul.
  5               8        Sydney (6-5) Round 8 was more like it. Time to keep it up though.
  6               5        Bendigo (3-7) Numbers in the L column growing too consistently.
  7               7        Canberra (2-8) Would throw a scare through the comp if it won out west.
  8               6        Adelaide (3-9) Shown it has the tools but far off any consistency.