Canberra Capitals beat Southside Flyers in WNBL grand final series opener

With game one of the WNBL grand final series balanced on a knife's edge, you could hardly blame one for putting the gun in the holster after two shots from beyond the arc missed their mark.

But then again, Canberra Capitals superstar Kia Nurse is no ordinary player.

Which is why the Capitals are now one win away from back-to-back WNBL championships after beating the Southside Flyers 82-80 in the grand final series opener on Sunday.

Which is why when Capitals guard Olivia Epoupa jagged her third offensive board in succession and fed the ball back to the WNBA All Star deep in the fourth quarter, she took her shot.

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Nurse's final three put Canberra two points clear with little more than three minutes remaining. Epoupa would soon hit the eventual game-winner after Southside had drawn level.

Canberra now have a chance to clinch another title on home court with game two of the best of three series being played at the AIS Arena on Wednesday night.

The series will return to Dandenong Stadium for a decider on Sunday should the Flyers square the ledger in front of a packed house at the AIS.

Nurse posted a team-high 19 points to go with a Kelsey Griffin double-double (18 points and 12 rebounds) in a showing which saw Flyers star Bec Cole's game-high 23 points come to no avail, after Leilani Mitchell's last-ditch attempt to level the scores went awry.

"You can't ever take it for granted. [Epoupa] has flirted with triple-doubles this season. That was a momentum break for us when Kia got the three, Oli got the rebound and Kia got another shot," Canberra coach Paul Goriss said.

"It really just built momentum for us. They're just huge plays she continues to come up with at both ends of the floor.

"It swings between big three and big four. [Marianna] Tolo is a huge part of that. Sometimes the work she doesn't get credit for is her defence and her rebounding.

"That's a huge part. She doesn't necessarily always need to score for us even though she can. She did an excellent job on Mercedes [Russell] and that will continue."

But Goriss must now work out how best to manage his stars after using seven players in the rotation, with Abby Cubillo only registering little more than two minutes.

It left Tolo (39:39), Nurse (37:57), Epoupa (37:38), Griffin (30:30), Maddison Rocci (27:32) and bench player Keely Froling (24:16) to shoulder the load.

But Goriss is often quick to point out those players on the pine waiting for their shot work just as hard at practice as the starters, which explains their elation at the final buzzer.

Although it was a moment that left Griffin feeling a little like "the bad guy".

"The girls rushed onto the court and they were so excited because they're all so young. I was like 'guys, we haven't done anything yet'," Griffin said.

"We need to learn from our last series where we went in 1-0 and Melbourne came out [in game two] and proved they wanted it more than us. Hopefully we will learn from that.

"We've got a big task ahead. Closing out games is one of the hardest things to do, we learned about it last year in Adelaide.

"It's great to go home, but I have no doubt it's going to be a hard game."

AT A GLANCE

WNBL grand final game one: CANBERRA CAPITALS 82 (Kia Nurse 19, Kelsey Griffin 18, Marianna Tolo 15) bt SOUTHSIDE FLYERS 80 (Bec Cole 23, Leilani Mitchell 15, Jenna O'Hea 14) at Dandenong Stadium. Crowd: 1956.

WNBL GRAND FINAL SERIES

Game one: Canberra Capitals 82 bt Southside Flyers 80 at Dandenong Stadium.

Wednesday, March 4: Game two - Canberra Capitals v Southside Flyers at AIS Arena, 7.30pm.

Sunday, March 8: Game three - Southside Flyers v Canberra Capitals at Dandenong Stadium, 1pm.