The Lady Braves, led by an MVP winning performance from team co-captain Jane Chalmers, defeated the Tornadoes 91-80 in Saturday night’s south conference grand final at Bendigo Stadium.

Nearly 800 spectators witnessed a quality grand final encounter, which the Lady Braves led at every break.

Ahead by just one point at quarter time, coach Jonathan Goodman’s side set up their win with a 26-18 second quarter.

It was Chalmers, a veteran of 324 SEABL games, who gave the Lady Braves the ascendancy with a trio of three-pointers in the final two and a half minutes of the second quarter to help Bendigo to nine-point advantage at half time.

So often their Achilles heel this season in eight losses, the third quarter proved decisive for the Lady Braves, who stretched the margin to 17-points.

With the Tornadoes having come from behind in both of their previous finals wins, including from 17-points down in last weekend’s preliminary final against Dandenong Rangers, the Lady Braves braced for one last desperate effort from the Tasmanians.

They were able to pull within five-points with 48 seconds remaining on the clock, but a pair of big rebounds from import Chante Black and some clutch free-throw shooting from Chalmers, who finished the night with 18 points, star point guard Kelly Wilson and Bianca Dufelmeier were more than enough for the Lady Braves to clinch the win and a spot in next weekend’s national grand final against Geelong Supercats.

The Lady Braves are aiming for their first national championship since 2007.

Coach Goodman said a special win was based on an even spread of contributions from his players.

“We talked about it in the change room before the game, when everyone is great and on their game, we do an extremely good job,” he said.

“If you look at us, we had five players in double figures, so it was a great team effort.

“Jane Chalmers has got to have another year in her after an effort like that, she shot the lights out.

“Kelly Wilson was great for us early in the game, when we couldn’t find scorers.

“Chante Black really came to play – they double and triple-teamed her all night.

“Then we had Jessie Rennie coming in and sticking some big shots, (Bianca) Dufelmeir doing a great job defensively and Carlie Smith putting in one of her biggest games in the last two months and doing it on the big stage.

“Everyone just contributed, it was an awesome team effort.”

Smith finished as the equal-top scorer for the Lady Braves with 18 points and added an equal team-high 12 boards.

Black was an imposing presence in the paint with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Wilson had 16 points and a game-high nine assists.

Dufelmeier’s numbers were also impressive, with her 11 points, three points and five rebounds underpinning a solid all-round game.

For Launceston, Australian Opals guard Lauren Mansfield led all players on court with 27 points,  while contributing five rebounds and is assists.

Fellow WNBL player Lauren Nicholson was next best with 26 points, while centre Tayla Roberts had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Together that trio accounted for 82 per cent of the Tornadoes’ total score.

Goodman paid full credit to the Tornadoes for a tough grand final effort and outstanding final series, after they reached the conference championship game from fourth position.

“There’s no doubt they are a talented group, they really made a run at us,” he said.

“Nicholson has 26 points, Mansfield has 27, but that’s the second time we’ve kept Roberts quiet.

“Put that down to Chante Black, that is something she brings to our group that is pretty special.

“They’re unlucky not to be champions, and unlucky not have finished higher.

“We’re feeling pretty happy about the win, but we know we still have one more game to go.”

Co-captain Chalmers said she was proud of how her side had handled the big occasion and hoped “bigger and better things” lie ahead in next weekend’s clash against Geelong.

“We haven’t beaten Geelong yet this year and we haven’t played very well against them either time,” she said.

“They have some great talent, starting with Sara (Blicavs); they’ve got Alex Duck, the two Brancatisano sisters, Ebony Rolph and Chantal Horvat, who has gone to college, which will probably help us.

“But they bat very deep and have a good squad.

“It will be a big challenge, but that would make a victory even sweeter.”

Asked about her purple patch late in the second quarter, which culminated in three big three-pointers, Chalmers said it was simply a case of following her coach’s instructions.

“Jono is always telling me to just shoot the ball,” she said.

“ I think I got a bit lucky tonight,  a few went down and the confidence went up, so I thought I’d put up another couple.

“I couldn’t buy a lay-up at the start of the game.”

Meanwhile, young Bendigo Spirit player Rolph was the star of the Geelong’s east conference grand final win over Kilsyth Cobras.

The Supercats conceded just 43-points in their 19-point win.

Rolph top-scored with 23 points and had seven boards, while Blicavs finished with 19 points.

The national championship will be played at the Kilsyth Sports Centre in Melbourne next Saturday.