The Tornadoes went down to Frankston in a 72-64 nail-biting end to round 18.

Despite 19 points from Mikaela Ruef and 14 from Emilee Harmon, the Tornadoes could not keep up with the Frankston players and now face a North versus South play-off against the Hobart Lady Chargers.

Tornadoes head coach Reece Potter said that despite the loss, the girls still fought right up until the final whistle.

"We were just a bit flat and they came out and took advantage of it," Potter said.

"We were down 18 going into the last quarter and it was always going to be hard to win from that but I thought our girls had a real crack.

"We needed to be aggressive and attack the basket and when we did that in the last quarter it showed and it showed what we can be . . . it was good to see we still had that fight in us.

Potter said that although they would have liked to have had a local crowd behind them for the play-offs, heading to Hobart would not faze the team.

"We will play Hobart in Hobart next week . . . it's obviously not the ideal situation, it would have been good to play here in Launceston in front of our crowd," he said.

"But is doesn't faze us really, we've won in Hobart this year and if anything, it might take a bit of pressure off the girls because they will be able to focus purely on basketball."