Giants Netball favourite Bec Bulley says she "just knew" a Hail Mary pass from fellow veteran Susan Pettitt was going to prove the icing on the cake in her side's extraordinary 52-51 Super Netball minor semi-final win over Collingwood Magpies.
The Giants looked set for a season-ending loss when they trailed the Magpies by six goals with seven minutes remaining to play at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre.
However, the team that have battled without injured captain Kim Green since round five, showed phenomenal determination to score seven of the last 10 goals of Saturday's game to win it at the death.
The decisive moment came with 17 seconds remaining and the scores locked at 51-51, when Pettitt threw her long pass into the circle where goal shooter Kristina Brice gained the ball and held her nerve to sink the winner.
"I just knew it was all going to come off," Bulley said. "I just had faith.
"We seemed to have our tails in the air, just that real belief in each other."
The Giants will face Melbourne Vixens next Saturday at Hisense Arena after the minor premiers were sunk 56-55 by Sunshine Coast Lightning in the major semi-final earlier on Saturday.
The winner of the in the preliminary final will play the Lightning in the June 18 grand final at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
"We've done it all year - we seem to be very good at leaving it to the last minute and then coming through," Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald said.
"We know we made some costly errors tonight but we were able to re-group each time we did and I think that was probably the key."
For the Magpies, an inconsistent season has come to a shattering end.
"We're pretty gutted about the loss, as you can imagine," Collingwood coach Kristy Keppich-Birrell said.
"It's about treasuring the ball. We didn't treasure it enough at times and we let other people control the destiny of the ball.
"That's why we lost the game."
A one-goal Giants lead at quarter time became a six-goal advantage during the second term before Collingwood wrenched back the momentum to cut the halftime deficit to just two goals.
The re-focused Magpies continued that streak with the first four goals of the third quarter to grab the lead for the first time since the opening term and held it by two goals going into the decisive final period.
Brice was the difference in the final decisive moment of the game.
The young goal shooter's selection proving a masterstroke by coach Julie Fitzgerald, leaving wing attack Susan Pettitt and goal attack Jo Harten to patrol outside the circle.
"We decided that was the way to go," Fitzgerald said.
"I thought what was happening out the front of [Brice] was good.
"She will have learnt so much from playing that game.
"This will be a far better team for having had that game behind them."
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