ALTHOUGH the NBL1 Central competition had a week off, other states continued their basketball action around the country.

In the South Women’s league, the Launceston Tornadoes managed to edge past the Sandringham Sabres in a performance that was led by the efforts of star forward Keely Froling, who was a dominant force in the win.

The Tornadoes came into the match on a three-game losing streak, which was less than ideal. Although they had shown winning tendencies at times, the team was in a serious form slump and were in danger of dropping out of finals contention early in the fixture.

They were coming up against a Sandringham side that had been solid without being spectacular to start the season, and were also eager to climb the ladder with a win at Southern Basketball Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It ended up being a thrilling encounter, with the Sabres entering the final change on top on the scoreboard and looking a strong chance to hold on to a vital home victory. Instead, Launceston outscored the opposition 25-15 to complete the comeback and claim a five-point win, its fourth of the season.

The impact of Froling was undeniable, with the forward posting a monster statline that truly reflected her influence on the match as a whole.

Sandringham Sabres (79) def. by Launceston Tornadoes (84)

Keely Froling – 39 points, 13 rebounds, seven steals

Froling was as impactful as ever in Launceston’s come-from-behind triumph, doing whatever it took to get her side over the line for a much-needed triumph.

She was clearly the match’s leading scorer with 39 points on the night and taking over when the game was up for grabs.

The Tornadoes were looking to get the ball in Froling’s hands whenever possible, as demonstrated by her whopping 30 attempts from the field, with 15 of those finding the bottom of the net. She did her best work inside the arc, going to work in the paint and proving too much for the opposition interior defence.

14 of her 15 makes came from two-point land, as Froling tried her hand at long range shooting a few times, but for only one make. When she played to her strength and looked to score inside, it resulted in a bucket more often than not.

Froling was a force on the glass too, pulling down a strong balance of offensive and defensive rebounds on her way to 15 for the match. She showed her class, strength and smarts to get into the right position and outbody the opposition bigs.

On the defensive end, Froling was always alert and looking to thwart Sandringham plays, especially when the ball was being fed into the paint. She recorded a whopping seven steals and was a thorn in the Sabres’ side whenever they were trying to generate some strong ball movement on the offensive end.

It was a telling performance from Froling, who once again showed why she is one of the best frontcourt players in the NBL1 and can have a massive say on the result of a match.