Less than 24 hours out from Lauren Mansfield preparing 9,320 kilometres away ahead of the Launceston captain’s Australian debut, teammates pitched in for cover to ensure the Tornadoes wouldn’t go down without a fight.
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That sort of gallantry was required in spades clashing against Canberra Capitals again that had a remarkable air of familiarity the second time round.
But instead of submitting to a repeat last-shot defeat from 35 days ago in the nation’s capital, the Tornadoes found a way to prevent an even more remarkable fightback for the 76-74 home win.
“We’re very good in periods and very ordinary in others, but that’s what we are – we’re young without our leader and we also got into foul trouble ourselves,” coach Richard Dickel said.
“But credit to them – they (Canberra) came out in the second half and they had some shots that they didn’t hit.”
Canberra had trailed 20-4 late in the first quarter, but had fought back to nine-point deficit at the last break.
Teasing throughout the final stanza, the visitors were within two points before captain Keely Froling and game highest scorer Maddison Penn (21) were both fouled out within 18 seconds entering the final two minutes.
Launceston kept its cool among all its hustle when their rivals were called for a late travel and missed both shots at the free throw line.
Even a desperate three-point bomb to win on the buzzer couldn’t rob the Torns of a must win before a three-game road trip.
“At the end of the day, you want close games like that to win coming into the playoffs,” Dickel said.
“We want to know that we can do it without Lauren (Mansfield) on the court.
“We want to know we can do it with players in foul trouble and trust them on the court.”
Nicholson, who was the Torns standout with 20 points and nine fouls, stood on four fouls for most of the second half and Tayla Roberts, who was pressured heavily off the ball, gradually moved towards four fouls late.
The courageous victory was built around the likes of Bec Abel, who produced 13 points in her second most prolific game for the club.
But also on strong contributions from Emma Haywood, Ali Partridge and Paige French, who all combined for 20 points off the bench.
All eight players that found court time had scored points well before half-time.
As Mansfield walks out for the opening Asian Cup game in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, Dickel said the season’s last home game was a real learning curve for his side.
“You need to trust your players at certain points of time,” he said.
“Paige stepped up, hit a couple of big shots. Bec stepped up, hit those shots.
“But it’s when we share the ball, we spread the scoring.”