Lauren Jackson's boosted her Olympic selection stocks by pouring in a season-high 28 points as Southside beat the Sydney Flames to hold onto second in the WNBL.
Jackson, 42, is eyeing a fifth Olympics in Paris after scrapping her retirement plans to be included in an Opals squad to play Games qualifiers next month.
The Hall of Famer and seven-time WNBA All-Star was humming on Saturday, making 10-of-14 field goals in a 79-73 defeat of the Flames.
It improved the Flyers to 8-6, third behind the Boomers (10-6) and top-placed Townsville Fire (12-4).
Sydney (8-8) bounced back on Sunday to stay in touch as Cayla George made a season-high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds in an 87-84 defeat of fourth-placed Perth Lynx (9-7).
The match was played before a season-high crowd of 5,138 at Qudos Bank Arena in a double-header with the NBL that served as a breast cancer awareness fundraiser motivated by former player, current assistant coach and breast cancer sufferer Tiana Mangakahia.
Later on Sunday, Kelsey Griffin played a captain's hand to break open a tight contest against UC Capitals and hand her Bendigo Spirit a crucial second win of the round.
The 36-year-old former WNBA talent and Rio Olympian had 25 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks in Sunday's 88-66 defeat of the Capitals in Bendigo, which followed the Spirit's 96-68 crushing of Adelaide Lightning on Wednesday.
Those victories over lower-placed rivals pushing Bendigo two wins clear in sixth but still two wins behind the fifth-placed Flames.
The Fire cemented their semi-finals spot with a 69-57 defeat of the Boomers on Wednesday, before the hosts returned serve with an emphatic second half to win their rematch 95-58 three days later.
Sami Whitcomb (16 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists) was the architect for the Fire while US import Naz Hillmon (24 points, 12 rebounds) and fellow American and two-time WNBA champion Jordin Canada (17 points, 10 assists) starred on Saturday.
