Ballarat Miners held sway entering the final two minutes and the naysayers had pencilled in a fourth loss on the trot for the Tornadoes, but they turned it around for a gratifying 93-88 victory. 

Tornadoes coach Derrick Washington felt it all finally clicked after three frustrating games that even included a buzzer-beating home loss.

“This time we put four quarters together,” he said.

“The last few games we weren’t able to do that.

“We got our bench going, we’re hitting our shots that we know we can do. We fought through adversity.”

Launceston trailed 30-22 at the quarter, but came back for a 50-45 break at the half.

Leading at the last change, the Tornadoes stayed in front throughout the first half of the final quarter until that ascendancy shifted away.

The pendulum had swung the Miners way 85-80 – the biggest lead since Ali Partridge’s three-pointer put the Tornadoes out by six in the opening seconds of the term.

But the Tornadoes shooters stood up to a 12-0 run.

Emma Haywood and Ally Wilson nailed back-to-back three-pointers 25 seconds apart and the visitors were all of a sudden back on top.

Lauren Nicholson scored a further five straight points unchecked before a Ellie Collins lay-up for two stretched the margin out to seven just 16 seconds from the end.

“Ally running the point, she was amazing,” Washington said. “Ellie Collins stepped up again, Emma Haywood also stepped up.

“Sophie Ackerley showed up big time in the first half playing defence. Everybody contributed and that’s what I’ve been saying: it takes a whole team to win a game.”