KEY POINTS:
Diamonds captain Stephanie Bond could do little but sit on the edge of her seat all weekend waiting to discover her side's fate in the national league's final hurrah.
At home on Saturday she had to leave the room for the last quarter of the televised Flames-Sting clash, and got her mother to yell out the 54-46 result in the Stings' favour, which kept the Diamonds in National Bank Cup semifinal contention.
Resting a calf injury, Bond could only watch from the bench yesterday as the Aucklanders repelled a gutsy final fling from the Flyers to make the top four.
Then scores filtered through to the Diamonds' bench from Wellington, where the Force were playing what their captain Temepara George called "the shocker of the season" - trailing the Shakers with 10 minutes left on the clock.
The Diamonds held their collective breath - they would score a home semifinal if the Force lost. But their northern neighbours pulled another of their Houdini stunts to grab a 53-49 victory, and seal a place in the major semifinal against the Sting, on Friday night.
"A home semi would have been great, but it's just such a huge relief to be in the semis at all," Bond said. "We were short-changed when we missed out last year."
The Diamonds will travel to Rotorua for Sunday's elimination match with the Magic, who just held out the Rebels to clinch their semifinal berth.
The recurring theme of the weekend was the "nothing to lose" attitude of the vanquished - the Rebels, Shakers and Flyers pouring their souls into the final games of their NBC history.
Although they finished the competition without a win, the young Flyers could hold their heads high, keeping the Diamonds at a 10-goal distance for much of the game.
It wasn't until the final quarter that the home side, rallied by Jenny-May Coffin, picked up the pace, winning 62-43.
Diamonds coach Sue Hawkins was pleased to give all of her fit players a run in the stop-start match. The biggest concern for the Diamonds was the number of injury breaks - Helena Hoult helped off court after two minutes with a knee injury, then Silver Ferns Anna Scarlett and Maria Tutaia retiring to the bench with bumps and bruises.
Wai Taumaunu's Shakers played their most complete game of the season; the determined efforts of goal keep Victoria Smith and shooter Jamilla Gupwell leading them into the final spell four ahead.
But, aided by an almost perfect game from shooter Catherine Latu (scoring 33 from 34), the Force finally woke up and capitalised on a handful of last-minute hiccups by the Shakers to steal the game.
"I think we were guilty of looking into the future, and I'm disappointed we finished this way," Force coach Yvonne Willering said.
"But we won't panic."
In dousing the Flames on Saturday, the Sting won invaluable home semifinal advantage and sent out a warning to the Force that they have acceleration when it counts.
Driven on by a record 6000-strong crowd, the Flames ended their run all guns blazing, but couldn't match the firepower of the Sting in the final quarter.
As Flames coach Marg Foster had feared, veteran Sting shooter Donna Wilkins hurt them most, with spot-on feeding and a lion's share of the shooting.
If there's anything the Sting need to work on before next weekend's major semi, captain Jenny Ferguson says it is their flow through court from the defence end - a weakness highlighted by the Flames defence on Saturday.
It's no surprise Foster, a fiercely loyal Mainlander, is backing her "other favourite" team, the Sting and their sublime shooters, to take the trophy home for the very last time.
SEMIFINALS
(1) Sting v (2) Force
Winner to final, loser plays winner of
(3) Magic v (4) Diamonds
for spot in final. Loser eliminated
