Sydney Thunder have finished top of the inaugural WBBL ladder but it's their red hot local rivals who are the form side heading into the finals.
The Thunder (18 points) clinched first spot with a 9-5 record ahead of the Hobart Hurricanes (16, 2nd), Sydney Sixers (16, 3rd) and Perth Scorchers (14, 4th)
The Sixers have won eight straight after losing their first six.
In the semi-finals, the Thunder will play the Scorchers and the Hurricanes will face the Sixers.
The Scorchers booked fourth spot with a pair of crushing nine-wicket final weekend wins over the Melbourne Renegades.
The Thunder lost their first two matches of the weekend by margins of 14 and 21 to the Stars and Sixers respectively.
They returned to form with a six-run victory over the Stars on Sunday, successfully defending a modest 104.
"It's definitely good to take that momentum into the semi-final and hopefully the final," said Thunder and Southern Stars quick Rene Farrell, who took 4-18 in Sunday's win.
"It (momentum) is something important in cricket as we've seen the Sixers get on a roll."
The Sixers won three in as many days on the last weekend and their last two victories were against the only sides to finish above them on the ladder.
NZ international Sara McGlashan scored an unbeaten 79 off 58 balls, as the Sixers recovered from 4-20 to score a thrilling last-ball two wicket win by successfully chasing down 127 against Hobart on Sunday.
"We had a tough run to start with pre-Christmas but we're on a pretty good roll," said McGlashan, who scored an unbeaten 49 off 22 against the Thunder.
England captain Charlotte Edwards scored 63 in Perth's win on Sunday and Elyse Villani notched 72 not out and 43 in the Scorchers' two victories over the Renegades.
"We're pretty ecstatic at the moment to sneak through into the semi-finals," said Scorchers' skipper, Nicole Bolton, who celebrated her 27th birthday on Sunday.
