Back-to-back: Canberra Capitals win WNBL grand final over Southside Flyers

This is it.

With 21.1 seconds left on the clock and the Capitals one point in arrears, it was fitting that a big-time player like Nurse rose to the occasion.

A Nurse dagger from beyond the arc put Canberra in front and set the scene for a thrilling come from behind 71-68 win over the Southside Flyers at the AIS Arena on Wednesday night.

Marianna Tolo (19 points) and Nurse (18) led the way for Canberra as they capped off a two-game series sweep in front of 4481 at a heaving Arena.

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Nurse struck first and Bec Cole's reply for Southside didn't hit. Who else but Nurse claimed the rebound with 10.4 seconds left to give the Capitals the ball, and ultimately, their ninth title.

It capped off a remarkable turnaround for the Capitals who had fallen 16 points behind earlier in the game and looked anything but a team which could sweep a grand final series.

"She couldn't have found herself any more wide open. She backs herself, you saw that in game one," Goriss said of Nurse's game-defining shot.

"I just knew that one was going to go down, because she lives for the big moment. She is a winner, she's classy, and she's big time. That's what big players do."

Earlier the Capitals looked a shadow of the side which had dropped just one game on home court since October of 2018. They were disjointed on offence and struggled to contain the Flyers' shooters.

Whatever the Capitals could manage to piece together in their disjointed offence would mean little if they failed to quell the impact of Bec Cole.

But then something changed. A 17-second stretch on the other side of the break saw the Flyers miss five successive shots. First it was Mercedes Russell, once it was Jenna O'Hea, and thrice it was Cole.

When Tolo dropped a shot midway through the third to give the Capitals their first lead of the game, it was the exclamation mark on a 15-point run that highlights the resilience this group so often hang their hats on.

So it was fitting when the two sides traded shots for the remainder of the contest, it was the Capitals standing tall at the final buzzer.

"It doesn't get old. It never gets old, and even tonight with the way we started in that first half, who would have thought we would come out in that second half ready to go," Tolo said.

"It's such a credit to us with how we played all season. We worked through those highs and lows, and we always knew we could dig ourselves out of a hole. We did that in the second half and it just feels amazing.

"We all knew our defence had to get better. You could see that in the third quarter, they only had nine points, that started with us getting some stops. We changed the momentum of the game and we really controlled the tempo.

"It's incredible, especially knowing you might never get the chance to play with these girls again. You always want to make the most of it, and we did it on the biggest stage we can."

AT A GLANCE

WNBL grand final game two: CANBERRA CAPITALS 71 (Marianna Tolo 19, Kia Nurse 18, Olivia Epoupa 16) bt SOUTHSIDE FLYERS 68 (Bec Cole 23, Mercedes Russell 14, Sara Blicavs 12) at AIS Arena. Crowd: 4481.