While the Braves’ place in the men’s south conference top two was secured going into the weekend’s final round of matches, the Lady Braves looked destined to miss the double chance for the women’s south conference finals.

The Lady Braves needed to defeat Brisbane on Friday night and hope that Frankston upstaged second-placed Hobart for them to jump into second and advance to a major semi-final clash with Kilsyth.

The Lady Braves passed the first test, defeating Brisbane 72-63.

In the major shock of the round, sixth-placed Frankston stunned Hobart in Hobart 68-61 to give the Lady Braves’ title hopes a major boost.

“After our win on Friday night it was actually a bit hard to believe that we’d actually finished second on the ladder,’’ Lady Braves coach Jonathan Goodman said.

“A few weeks ago we thought we were still a mathematical chance to get second, so to actually come out and achieve it is huge for us.”

The winner of next Saturday night’s major semi-final between Kilsyth Cobras and the Lady Braves in Melbourne will host the conference grand final a fortnight later.

Despite spending three days in bed ill leading into the game, centre Elyse Penaluna scorched Brisbane with 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Kerryn Harrington had 17 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Stacia Robertson added 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

The Lady Braves are expected to regain Opals’ duo Tessa Lavey and Kelly Wilson for the semi-final clash with the Cobras.

The Braves rounded out their preparation for Friday night’s major semi-final clash with Mt Gambier by defeating Brisbane 95-85.

The Braves set up the win with a dominant 49-33 first-half.

Grant Johnson led the Braves in scoring with 22 points and Michael Vigor had 20 points, but it was the form of guard Josh Wilcher that was most pleasing for the Braves. Wilcher scored 20 points on 5-7 shooting, including four three-pointers.

The winner of the Mt Gambier-Bendigo semi-final will host the south conference grand final two weeks later. 

If the Braves and/or Lady lose their major semi-final games, they will host the preliminary final on Saturday, August 29.