The visitors had to survive a fightback from the home side but deservedly prevailed 57-52 and will play the Nelson Sparks in the final today.
The Sparks edged ahead of the Harbour Breeze in the dying stages of the other semifinal to win 62-57.
While the Goldrush will not retain the Women's Basketball Championship title it won last season, the team was missing several key personnel and performed better than expected, coach Brent Matehaere said.
"All you can ask is the girls work hard and they certainly did that," he said.
"You saw tonight the faces were red and they were working as hard as they possibly could.
They put the effort in but they just couldn't get it going on offence."
The Goldrush shot 23% from the field, made one its 11 three point attempts and scored just eight points in the second quarter.
Despite struggling to hit shots from the outside, the Goldrush got within a point in the final moments of the game but the Rangers held their cool and hit crucial free throws to win the match.
Danielle Calnan led the way for the Goldrush with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Soraya Umaga-Jensen scored 14 points.
For the Rangers, Te Oramae Soloman was superb with 14 points and made some important plays down the stretch.
Junior Tall Fern Penina Davidson grabbed 11 rebounds and Adoniah Lewis landed some big three-pointers in an 11 point haul.
The Goldrush opened the scoring when Kelly Groot popped in a lay-up and caught the defence napping.
Trailing 6-2, the visitors rallied, scoring the next 10 points to snatch the lead.
Janet Main broke the sequence with a mid-range jumper and then got her side back in front, early in the second period, with a basket from underneath.
But the lead was short-lived and the Rangers pulled away to lead 27-18 at halftime.
Lewis hit her third three-pointer shortly after the resumption to stretch the lead to 12.
Calnan got the comeback started with a nice move to go past her opponent for a lay-up. But Main rolled an ankle three-quarters of the way through the period and was assisted from the court.
A minute later Groot coped a blow to the face which loosened a tooth but bravely returned for the fourth period, with her side trailing 40-35.
With the game firmly in the balance, Soloman stuck a three-pointer and seconds later made a beautiful assist.
The earlier semifinal was a topsy-turvy affair with the Sparks gaining the advantage in the last 5 minutes, with an eight-point unanswered run.
Sparks forward Nicki Rampton starred with a double of 16 points and 16 rebounds. Jelena Vucinic was productive with 13 points and Kat Jones grabbed eight boards and scored 10 points.
Rebecca van Kuyk top-scored for Harbour with 14 points and Brooke Blair chipped in with 13 points.
The Goldrush will meet Harbour in the playoff for third and in the plate competition Canterbury will play Waikato in the final.
