Launceston Tornadoes have shown a remarkable early-season turnaround on Saturday night, throwing off the offensive shackles to pull away to a 96-85 home win.
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Just 14 days earlier in what was a unrehearsed season opener, the Tornadoes had struggled to reach 50 points down in a loss at Hobart.
Two games back home at Launceston. Two games back with inside shooter Tayla Roberts. And the difference is abundantly apparent to near double that derby score.
“It’s just time together,” coach Ben Rush simply said.
“That was the first proper game with Hobart and that’s why I commented it was like a practice match for the fact we were just getting to know each other – it wasn’t that we weren’t taking it seriously and not wanting to win.
“We were disappointed because we felt like we could have played better and won, but sometimes from difficult situations, good things grow.”
Roberts is now proving the lynchpin to the Torns doubling its scoring, returning from Adelaide Lightning WNBL duties with 31 points to back up 32 in regular time.
Captain Lauren Mansfield also near repeated her last-game feats to collect 21 points, but small forward Ellie Collins rose to a new level to reach a career-high 22.
But still rank underdogs, Melbourne Tigers, gave the home side more than a scare.
“I knew they had enough good players to really give us a shake,” Rush said.
“So even though they were 0-3 and had a couple of bad losses, they’ve added players and played their first game together as this current group last night and they were raring to go tonight.
They played pretty good, they fought and they had some talent out there.
“To beat them, undersized outside Tayla (Roberts), was a credit to the girls.”
The Tigers had scored a quarter-high 31 points to lead in the second, challenged again when they regained the lead with eight minutes left during the last and were just three points down in the final three minutes.