POINT guard Kelly Wilson believes the Bendigo Spirit may have become to reliant on some of its stars.
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She if the team has any chance of reaching its third-straight grand final, they need to share the load.
The Spirit couldn't match it with minor premiers Townsville on Sunday and will this weekend face a red hot Sydney team, who scored a stunning upset against Dandenong.
Wilson said the team didn't respond well defensively to the Fire's pressure and also struggled offensively.
"We need to move on quickly from the game, we can't worry about what happened," she said.
"We will do our defensive scout on Sydney this week and make sure we better execute our offense."
Bendigo shot the ball at just 31.8 per cent in the 19-point loss with star player Kelsey Griffin scoring 21 of teams 63 points.
Wilson said she was confident the Spirit, who has a 2-1 record against Sydeny this season, would be able to bounce back.
"We can't rely on Kelsey (Griffin) to score all the points," she said.
"As a team we all need to step up and spread the load.
"Sydney is playing some really good basketball, but in the past when we have had a loss we have responded really positively the next week."
Wilson said while making it into a third successive grand final was appealing, the team was taking it one week at a time.
"We are all still hungry for that third championship," she said.
"But what we have done in the past two years means nothing now, we really need to work hard and focus on the game against Sydney."
Wilson said she was looking forward to playing in-front of a home crowd on Sunday.
"We saw it first hand how important a role the crowd has against Townsville last week, so the girls are keen to play at home," she said.
The preliminary final match tips-off at 3pm.
The winner of the match will travel to Townsville to play in the grand final the following weekend.
Tickets for Sunday's final will go on sale on Wednesday at 9am via the Bendigo Stadium.
Adult tickets cost $38, concessions are $33 and a child is $28.
For more information about how to purchase tickets people can contact the Bendigo Stadium on 5440 6200.
