![Launceston Tornadoes imports Lore Devos and Trinity Oliver with coach Sarah Veale (middle) at Buckby Skoda on Wednesday. Pictures by Paul Scambler Launceston Tornadoes imports Lore Devos and Trinity Oliver with coach Sarah Veale (middle) at Buckby Skoda on Wednesday. Pictures by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/brian.allen/b13c8359-4bff-42ac-ae3d-166212d02956.jpg/r0_404_7816_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Launceston Tornadoes coach Sarah Veale has expressed her pride in the group's resilience in what has been a tough season on and off the court.
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The Tornadoes are 16th on the 19-team NBL1 South ladder with four wins and 11 losses and have an away double-header against Eltham Wildcats and Knox Raiders this weekend.
They have lost their past four games, including falling 86-54 to Sandringham Sabres last weekend.
"It's just been such a rollercoaster for the girls, I'm really proud (considering) what they've had to deal with this season," Veale said.
"There's a lot of stuff off-court that has impacted the on-court.
"What we've done well is actually just really start to work together as a group.
"Our game in Hobart (May 31) was the first time that our entire team had been together and it was game 14."
Veale provided insight into some of the challenges, including that she had to step away for six weeks due to a family death.
"That was huge for the group," she said.
"(Assistant coach) Hayden (Zasadny) has been amazing but Hayden isn't able to come to practice," she said.
"So we've got players taking practice, it's been disruption 24/7 basically so I'm really proud of the girls."
The Examiner previously reported Zasadny and Nathan Lee coached the Tornadoes for their away double header in mid-May while players Keely Froling and Tahanee Bennell were helping take training.
![Launceston Tornadoes imports Lore Devos and Trinity Oliver at Buckby Skoda. Launceston Tornadoes imports Lore Devos and Trinity Oliver at Buckby Skoda.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/brian.allen/8eb63c9d-51de-4e6d-97d8-d594036e5527.jpg/r0_422_8256_5082_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Player availability has also been a significant obstacle with American import Trinity Oliver missing the opening two games and Belgian Lore Devos the opening seven due to when they arrived in Australia.
"None of our imports (played) game one so we had our local group and they started to gel and then we had imports coming in," Veale said.
"So players were changing positions and then Keely (Froling's) only managed to play five games due to her (Opals) commitments and her rehab with her knee."
Meanwhile, young gun Lucy Aherne, who will be on this weekend's road trip, has also only been able to play the past two games due to injuring her ankle at the under-18 nationals earlier this year.
"So nobody's ever actually been able to really just cement what they had to do and how to do it," Veale said.
Froling will miss the double-header as she is representing the Opals in Japan.
The Torns have seven games left and are four wins behind eighth-placed Eltham in terms of the finals race.
"We're going into all of those seven games to win them. Seven games in less than four weeks is going to be a real physical challenge. I really think we're up to the task," Veale said.
The Torns' first game is on Saturday at 6pm at Montmorency Secondary College before they venture to take on the second-placed Raiders at Knox Basketball Stadium on Sunday at 12pm.
Veale said the team would take some inspiration from last season.
"They're going to be two challenging games for us but last year we beat Knox with an undermanned and undersized side so I guess it just depends on how well we can play together and that's been the challenge," she said.
Launceston have three home games, including two at Elphin Sports Centre, following this weekend.