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ADELAIDE Lightning's future is up in the air after consecutive eliminations from the WNBL finals series without registering a win.

Last year's regular season championship counted for nought when Adelaide first lost its home semi final to Bulleen, then was waved goodbye out of Adelaide Arena and into 2012 mothballs by Dandenong in the preliminary final.

In the aftermath of that straight sets elimination, Abby Bishop headed to Europe but Lightning brought back triple-Olympian Laura Hodges to take over her role.

Molly Lewis for Toni "Free Throws" Edmondson looked an upgrade and Steph Talbot emerged as a starter so again was an upgrade on departing rookie Georgia Minear. Same for Nadeen Payne and veteran Hannah Bowley over Rachel Herrick.

And last year, superstar Suzy Batkovic was struggling in her return from injury to be below her best in the finals, while captain Jo Hill was injured during the playoff run.

So if season 2012-13 was going to be one of redemption, it started well, dipped for a while, and finished with an almighty roll which started after losing to Townsville in Townsville on January 4.

Who suspected that to be an omen when Adelaide's run to the finals included two road wins over Dandenong and a homer over Bendigo, the same team which whipped Townsville in the last round of the regular season?

So for The Batgirl to go 5-of-23 and foul out was bitterly disappointing when so much of Adelaide's fortunes rest with her.

Hodges 5-of-12, three boards, five turnovers was symptomatic of her season. Sadly, her great games could be counted on one hand and her combination with Batkovic did not even come close to emulating the Queen Bs of Bat-and-Bish last season.

Hodges has so much to offer but it was largely missing and you can only blame the confidence-battering she took at the London Olympics for so long. The use-by date on that one lapsed well before the New Year break.

Again, Jenni Screen and Angela Marino also failed to produce the numbers required to underpin a win but Lightning's reliance on Batkovic was its major undoing.

So where to now?

Owner Vince Marino has been looking to step away from the club and originally planned 2012-13 as his last season.

If he stays on, the team budget is sure to be halved, putting Adelaide into the West Coast territory. Really, it is high time Basketball SA manned up and came into a partnership or pulled together a consortium to buy one of the finest WNBL franchises in the league's history.

Coach Peter Buckle signed on for three years and two are up. The occasionally volatile nature of ownership might mean the end is closer than Bucks believes, his own renowned "intensity" also wearing thin with some of his senior playing group.

And really, there's only one player he needs to piss off repeatedly to stick his head in the noose.

The whisper post-semi final loss to Townsville was a female recently associated with the team brazenly was canvassing potential replacements for Buckle who meets with ownership on Friday.

With speculation mounting around whether Vince will continue - he has hemorraged financially for years since buying the club - whether there is even a buyer in the wings, there rarely has been such uncertainty around the storied franchise.

Townsville's 60-53 victory was well-planned and brilliantly executed, probably giving Fire coach Chris Lucas a greater measure of satisfaction than it would have to most. And that would be understandable.

In dire straits as a club just a few years ago, Townsville finished fourth last season and gave eventual champion Dandenong its only finals fright.

It already has improved one position in Lucas' second year at the helm and again can shake up the Rangers in Sunday's preliminary final.

There is a talent disparity that favors the Rangers but the same was true against Adelaide and in the end, belief and great execution meant so much more.

Fire captain Rachael Flanagan led from the front with 17 points at 63 per cent, seven defensive boards and three assists to be an inspiration.

A heavy head clash with Angela Marino late gave her a super shiner but it was Adelaide copping the black eye as all the Townsville players provided key cameos at all the right moments to end an era for Lightning.

Meanwhile, down in bushranger country, Bendigo put itself within one win of a glorious potential swansong season for its bona fide homegrown superstar Kristi Harrower by stumping Dandenong again, this time 78-71.

Kristi was Kristi, with 19 points, six boards and nine assists. The gal is dynamite.

Already beaten three times during the regular season by the Spirit, Dandenong went with a zone. Why not? Try something different.

But, you know, you don't have to be Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach or John Wooden to realise when Kelly Wilson is hitting seven three-pointers that maybe, just maybe, it ain't working.

Staying in it for the whole game?

Not Mark Wright's finest hour.

In fact, his finest hour occurred about a year ago and if he has any plans to revisit it, there surely has to be more to the gameplan. Maybe he can take a leaf from Lucas' book.

If he doesn't, Townsville might just do it again and give the WNBL its first all-regional national league Grand Final since Wollongong beat Townsville for the 2001 NBL crown.