The Bendigo Braves women will progress to the second preliminary final following their 17-point do-or-die win over the Knox Raiders.
The Braves led each quarter, but at times the Raiders put them to the test in front of a home crowd at the Bendigo Stadium.
The women were forced to play in the finals match against the Raiders after falling to the Kilsyth Cobras on Friday night in a qualifying final.
"We did it the hard way, but we're happy that we will get to play again next week," Braves coach Megan Moody said.
The victory over Knox will see the Braves head to Geelong next Sunday for a match against the Supercats, the only team which they were defeated by in the regular season.
A focus for the Braves ahead of the match will be the team's form after half-time.
"There was a questionable start to the third quarter, it's a gamble whether to call a time-out, but it paid off and we got a few scores, happy to take the win," Moody said.
"Two games in a row we've gone out quite flat, we as the coaching staff need to address it, talk to the group and fix it.
"This is finals and we can't afford to work hard in the first half to see it slip through our fingers to start the second half even-stevens."
Moody praised the effort and challenge presented to the Braves by the Raiders.
"They (Raiders) played hard for each other and enjoyed playing together," Moody said.
"This is always the downside of our sport, there has to be a loser, it provides some amazing highs but also some lows."
Braves' Tessa Lavey was the team's top scorer with 20 points, followed by Tess Madgen on 17 and Becca Tobin on 16.
"We just wanted to get the win today and I'm so stoked we came away with it," Madgen said.
But now the focus is on next weekend's preliminary final against the Supercats.
"It's going to be a really good game, everyone predicted it was going to be the grand final, they are a great team and run the floor really well," Madgen said.
"Good match-up for us, we've got some experience over there and hopefully it will work in our favour."
The Bendigo Braves women head to Geelong next Sunday for the preliminary final against the Supercats, tip-off 1pm.
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