By Chris Wilson

The Canberra Capitals gathered at Lauren Jackson's house on Saturday afternoon to watch the Sydney Flames play the Townsville Fire in the Women's National Basketball League preliminary final.

Players each threw $5 into a sweep, tipping who might win the game and qualify as their grand final opponent on Saturday.

Captain Lucille Bailie won the jackpot, correctly picking Sydney by five points. But the WNBL veteran is more relieved that the guesswork is now over so the Capitals can start focusing on the season showdown.

"It takes a lot of patience to sit out a week, not knowing who you're going to play in the biggest game of the season," Bailie said.

"Now it's tangible. We can now start thinking about who we're matching up on. We can dig our claws in and really start applying."

For all the nail-biting games that have marked this year's finals series, the season has ended up at a fairly predictable climax. The Capitals and Flames are set to meet in the decider for the third consecutive season.

Saturday's grand final will be a decider within a decider, Canberra and Sydney having each won a title in the last two years.

The Capitals are shooting for back-to-back championships - and their third in four seasons.

However, Bailie said the Capitals were only focused on their immediate goal, winning Saturday's grand final.

"I think we just have to concen trate on what we're doing right now, rather than getting caught up with other things that come along like back-to-back titles," Bailie said.

The Flames rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final quarter to beat the Fire 83-78 in front of more than 4000 Townsville fans on Saturday.

The Capitals made a similar come back to beat Townsville by a point the week before. While Jackson was astonishing in that game, Bailie said other players realised they had not played to their potential.

"In a way, I think we wanted to redeem ourselves and have another crack at Townsville," Bailie said.

While Townsville relies on a physical game, Bailie said it would be a completely different match-up against the experienced Flames.

The Capitals will need to contain Sydney's talented trio of Belinda Snell, Shelley Hammonds and Natalie Hughes. Canberra's chief weapon is obviously Jackson, who has averaged a league-best 28 points and 12 re bounds a game.

But Sydney coach Karen Dalton is wary of over-playing Jackson.

"We've had occasions this year when Eleanor Sharp has scored 22 against us and Kellie Abrams has scored 15 or 16," Dalton said.

"And I think in the last game Kristen Veal was the one who hurt us; Lauren Jackson had 21 [points] but Kristen Veal had 20.

"I think if you focus too much on Lauren Jackson someone else is going to get off - I respect all of the Canberra players."