Coach Sarah Veale was pleased with the way her Launceston Tornadoes handled who she considers the NBL1 South benchmark.
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The Torns lost 73-66 to Bendigo Braves at home last weekend.
It was always going to a tough ask without Keely Froling, who is among the best players in the league, so they did well to be in the fight until the end.
"It was good for us to know we can actually compete with them," Veale said.
"I think they're the team to beat.
"And (it was good to know) we can compete with them without Keely.
"Even though they didn't have Tess Madgen they still had four WNBL players in their group."
Launceston, who are chasing their sixth win of the season, have Casey Cavaliers on Saturday night at Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre.
Veale reflected on how the group fared without their captain.
"It was always going to be a challenge, Keely is such a dominant part of our team on both ends of the floor," she said.
"We certainly have the scoring power to cover that.
"But it's a challenge for the girls when they're not used to shooting that much in a game.
"We put ourselves in a good position to win and just lost it in the last minutes."
Veale had high praise for teenager Hope Brooks who clocked her most minutes of the season on the weekend.
"Hope came in and started for us and she's a four-man so she played in Keely's spot and she was really good," Veale said.
"She's been in and out a lot up until this point but she stepped up and did a great job.
"With a few more years' experience under her belt she's going to be a real player to contend with."
Veale also highlighted the efforts of 18-year-old Charli Kay and Kelsey Griffin, who was stand-in skipper.
The Torns mentor said Kay did a great job keeping Abi Wehrung to 12 points. Wehrung averages 29 per game.
"We kept them to 73 points which is good but only scored 66," Veale said.
"We also turned the ball over with 20 per cent of our possessions.
"It's hard to win when you don't have the ball to play with."
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