But ask her about her three-point clinic and game-high 31 points and she will offer up a simple observation - "have you seen my teammates? Do you know who they are?"

The Canberra Capitals are one win away from their first WNBL grand final appearance in eight years following a dominant 95-76 win over the Perth Lynx in the first semi-final at the AIS Arena on Friday night.

"Sometimes I feel like when you make a bunch of shots, people are like 'you played a great game'," Nurse said.

"There's no way on earth I would get any of those shots without all of those people on our team. It's anybody's night any night, and that is so much fun to play with. That's the best part about playing on this team.

"It's huge. It's more about the character of the players and the people you play with each and every day. These vets we have are more than willing to share their knowledge of the game, share their experience, and you don't always get that in vets.

"I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am in now, to have people who are willing to put themselves on the line each and every day to make sure we get done what we want to get done."

Nurse combined with the league's most valuable player favourite Kelsey Griffin in a first quarter blitz against a Perth side that simply looked outmatched against the competition heavyweights.

But there was life in the Lynx yet. Canberra's superstars went cold and shot at just 10 per cent over a six-minute stretch to kickstart a 20-4 run for the Lynx and sacrifice a half-time advantage.

Fast forward to the start of the fourth quarter and a glance at Nurse singing Taylor Swift's Shake It Off told you all you needed to know - she had inspired a 34-13 run in the third to regain the lead and put a foot in the door of a grand final.

With the Capitals boasting more championship-winners than you could poke a stick at, chasing them down in the final quarter of a finals game is like running down Winx on the straight - it's just not going to happen.

The Capitals have a chance to book their ticket to the grand final in game two on Thursday, while the Lynx head to the Bendat Basketball Centre with their championship hopes on life support.

And Capitals coach Paul Goriss says nothing is going to change in the Canberra playbook.

"It's like a game of chess, what adjustments we can make and what adjustments they're going to make," Goriss said.

"At times defensively we can still be a whole lot better. The girls have done a tremendous job over the past eight weeks, holding teams to a good score, and that's some of our goals."

So convincing were the Capitals in game one that eyes began to wander to the club's seven championship banners hanging from the rafters, wondering if the eighth would come in as little as three more games.

AT A GLANCE

WNBL semi-final game one: CANBERRA CAPITALS 95 (Kia Nurse 31, Leilani Mitchell 24) bt PERTH LYNX 76 (Brittany McPhee 25, Alison Schwagmeyer 13) at AIS Arena.

WNBL SEMI-FINALS

Series one: Canberra Capitals v Perth Lynx

Game one: Canberra Capitals 95 bt Perth Lynx 76 at AIS Arena.

Thursday, January 31: Game two - Perth Lynx v Canberra Capitals at Bendat Basketball Centre, 9.30pm (AEDT).

Saturday, February 2: Game three (if necessary) - Canberra Capitals v Perth Lynx at AIS Arena, 7.30pm.