The Lady Braves had the Torns measure throughout winning every quarter.

Not even the presence of former coach Reece Potter calling the shots from the sidelines to help the Tornadoes out until the appointment of a new coach was enough to get the home side across the line.

Bendigo lead 26-24 at quarter time and extended it to 51-43 at half-time and a dominant third quarter saw them shoot 26 points to the Torns 17 to open up a 77-60 advantage – increasing it to 20 at the final buzzer.

Captain Lauren Mansfield led from the front for the Tornadoes shooting a game-high 27 points with seven rebounds and five assists.

Tayla Roberts was good under the post and finished with 24 and seven rebounds and Lauren Nicholson shot 14.

Dandenong junior Chloe Bibby was one of the Braves best shooting 20 points with four rebounds, while US import Ashley Rininger imposed herself with 19 points and 14 rebounds and new import and big Chante Black scored 20 with 10 rebounds.

“It was a tough game and it’s always disappointing to lose especially on our home court so pretty disappointed with that,” Mansfield said.

“But credit to Bendigo who are a tough team – they had a lot of options and I think they had four or five players in double figures and quite a big team as well.

“I think it was a bit of a learning process and we know we still have lots of things to work on at training.

“I think our offence could be a bit better and we could be more patient and a bit more open shots but Tayla was her usual self in the post – she did well but I think we just need a few more scorers.”

Mansfield said it was good to have Potter helping out despite the loss.

“It always awesome to have him helping – some of the players haven’t had him before but some of us know Reece and what he expects of us so it was good having him back,” she said.