By Chris Wilson

A Townsville Fire fan, dressed as a fire chief, rang a big brass bell throughout the Women's National Basketball League semi-final at Tuggeranong on Saturday night.

But alarm bells are the sound the Canberra Capitals are most likely to hear after their thrilling 68-67 win.

The incredible comeback victory sent the Capitals to their fourth consecutive grand final. They are one win away from back-to-back titles.

But relieved captain Lucille Bailie admitted that her team had not played to its potential. The Capitals have often been criticised unfairly as a one-person team - they almost fell into that trap on Saturday night.

Lauren Jackson finished with 38 points, 21 rebounds and nine blocks as she carried the Capitals to victory.

The Capitals are a much better team than they showed, boasting the likes of Australian Opals contenders Kristen Veal and Eleanor Sharp.

The exciting prospect is that the Capitals will be determined to prove that talent spread in the grand final.

"Loz [Jackson] performs miracles, however, we've got a talented roster and we can't leave it all to Lauren," Bailie said.

"Loz carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and we, to our greatest capacity, have to chip in. We won by her doing it, but we have to find a balance.

"We've got one more game to go, teams are going after Loz, so we definitely need to all be accountable and help her out.

"We can all give a bit better than we did yesterday. We've got a lot more gas in the tank."

Bailie said that the emotion of Saturday night's win surpassed any other moment in her career. The 1400 capacity crowd erupted with a deafening cheer while heroine Jackson burst into tears.

Even so, experienced coach Tom Maher seemed almost unnerved. He was blunt in his analysis of the Capitals' performance, already plotting the improvements needed to win the grand final.

He described Canberra's blocking out as "dreadful", its offensive rebounding as "inconsistent" and the loose ball recovery as "poor".

Then Maher got critical.

"The single most important thing in a team sport is the possession game - how many times you can get it and how many times you can do something with it," he said.

"In our first half, we were totally thrashed in possession ... our possession game was a shocker."

Mind you, it's a lot easier to accept your mistakes when you're on the winning team. Townsville coach Dave Herbert must have been shaking his head, wondering what his team had to do to beat the Caps.

The Fire will play the Sydney Flames in Townsville on Saturday and Herbert is keen for another crack at the Capitals in the grand final, at AIS Arena on February 22.

"I'm proud of our team, they did a terrific job, but unfortunately we didn't execute that well towards the end," he said.

"The thing is, we're a second-year team right now and they're the things we've got to look at to take the next step."