The home team looked a chance to break its horrid patch that stretches back 42 days until Melbourne Tigers took control of the second half to record a 87-79 win.

Gardner dropped the first points of the third quarter from the foul line to deliver a seven-point lead and the Tornadoes' biggest margin of the NBL1 women's clash.

But inside the space of the next eight minutes, the Tigers powered away on a 23-9 scoring spree to lead comfortably by seven points.

Launceston got it back to four points early in the final term - the closest Derrick Washington's side would get for the rest of the night - until the famous club nailed nine points in a row in the next three and a half minutes.

"We had a great first half, but the third quarter we kind of lost it a little bit," he said.

"They just outscored us, which put us back, but our fourth quarter we battled on.

"So I'm proud of the girls, played better than last game for sure, but there's still a lot of improvement to come."

The promise of a fourth victory in the gallant side's 16th season outing was set up by Gardner's dynamism.

The American shot 10 of the Torns' 17 points inside just the opening six minutes and had 21 by the half-time.

The star performance that included six three-pointers and 11 rebounds set up the first time since last month that her third-last team had won two opening quarters.

Stella Beck finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Sarah O'Neil contributed another 13 points.

The numbers were not as significant, but Washington enjoyed his teenage brigade.

The club went out of its way in preseason trials to recruit a number of new faces in lieu of Lauren Mansfield, Lauren Nicholson, Ally Wilson and Ellie Collins all departing last year's grand final side.

"Mikayla Bingley does start now, so she's becoming a very solid player," he said.

"Micah [Simpson] comes in, so does Aishah [Anis] and Jess Johnston, and they all do their thing to what they can contribute to the team."

North West Thunder kept their revitalised final-eight hopes alive in the second leg of Elphin Sports Centre's double-header.

A superb defensive effort during overtime secured the Thunder a 90-82 victory.

Melbourne Tigers were out to a 19-12 break at the first change before the Thunder slowly crawled back into the encounter to level the scores at three-quarter time.

Only a three-pointer from Kai Woodfall, who finished the night with 23 points, in the dying seconds tied the scores up for the coastal side.

The Thunder sit in 11th place to join four other sides on seven wins each.