Townsville Fire will meet Perth Lynx in the WNBL grand final series after a 91-71 win in their preliminary showdown with the SEQ Stars.
Defending WNBL champions, Fire have been a mainstay of the competition in recent years, also losing grand finals in 2012/13 and 2013/14.
Lynx's sole grand final win came in 1992 and their last appearance in a decider the following year.
But Lynx will go into the three-match series with some confidence having beaten Fire in a first finals week upset that forced the Queenslanders into their must win clash on Sunday.
And they bounced back magnificently.
Fire shot out to an early lead in the first quarter through a dominant display from captain Suzy Batkovic and by halftime had a 52-35 advantage.
The Stars fought hard to get back into the contest in the second half through Jordan Hooper and captain Rachel Jarry.
Down by 20 points going into the final period, the visitors struggled to reduce the margin as Fire burned the opposition time and again in both offence and defence.
Still well behind, guard Jarry's departure from the court following an accidental knee with five minutes to go only drove the knife in further.
Batkovic finished the match with a game-high 31 points and 10 rebounds for Fire while Mia Murray was solid with 24 points.
Hooper was best for Stars with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Fire now head to Perth to play Lynx in the first clash of the three-game series on Saturday.
Coach Chris Lucas said his squad relished the must-win atmosphere on Sunday.
"I think physically we gave out as much as we got tonight," he said, singling out Batkovic's dominant display.
"Batkovic set the tone of the game and that's what you expect from a leader.
"She is just a warrior."
Stars coach Megan Thompson said the loss was hard to swallow.
"It's finals basketball. It's always going to be tough," she said.
"The ball really fell their way today I felt, but that happens in the game of basketball."
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