Bendigo coach Bernie Harrower reckons his defending WNBL champions and minor premiership-winning side are on a hiding to nothing heading into the finals
The Spirit (22-2) finished one win better than last season, as they stretched their winning run to five with a comfortable 97-68 home victory over Logan (7-17).
Bendigo will host out-of-sorts Dandenong (16-8) in next Sunday's major semi-final after the Rangers' losing streak stretched to three with an 88-82 away loss to Adelaide (12-12).
The elimination semi on Saturday also features two games at different ends of the form spectrum.
Townsville (16-8) will stage the minor semi against Melbourne (14-10) after scoring a 70-55 home win over the Boomers.
Melbourne will also enter the finals on a three-match losing skid, having lost 71-60 at Logan (7-17) the night before being vanquished in Townsville, who have won four in a row.
Bendigo, who were sparked by 22 points and 13 rebounds from Gabrielle Richards will go into the finals series without Opals forward Elyse Penaluna, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, but have won nine straight against Dandenong.
"We're on a bit of a hiding to nothing," said Harrower, who was able to rest his daughter and star guard Kristi, who rolled an ankle the previous week.
"Everybody expects us to win the game because we've been so dominant against them over the last nine games, but I always look at that and think you're always one game closer to them getting a win."
Dandenong coach Mark Wright dismissed the unflattering statistic on the basis the Rangers had fielded very different teams over the course of their three-year run of outs against Bendigo.
"The only common denominator is him (Harrower) and me," Wright told AAP
Despite Dandenong's sudden loss of form, Wright took heart from the way they finished off against Adelaide, scoring 36 points in the last quarter, and a 29-point performance from Jenna O'Hea
Townsville coach Chris Lucas said his team treated the match with Melbourne like a finals game.
Dominant Centre Suzy Batkovic notched 19 points and 14 rebounds, though she made just seven of 20 field goal attempts.
"I feel like we don't want to be relying on Suzy, I think that's unfair on her," Lucas said.
Tess Madgen stood out for Melbourne in their last round losses, scoring 19 against Townsviile and 20 at Logan.
Sydney University and Canberra both finished with a 10-14 record after each enjoyed a final round home win over West Coast (1-23).
Canberra won 73-50 and Sydney 79-54, as the Waves ended their season with 23 straight losses since their opening match win over Adelaide.
