A loved member of the Tasmanian basketball community will be remembered by the Launceston Tornadoes on Saturday night.
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Former player and long-time supporter Lisa Gibson died last week aged 40 following an 18-month battle with cancer.
The Torns will honour her legacy with black armbands against Kilsyth.
"She was a key part of the basketball fabric in Launceston," coach Sarah Veale said.
"For us to be able to pay respect for all that she's done and obviously send our love to her family and children, that will mean a lot.
"It's important to pay tribute to everybody but Lisa being a former Tornado, it's really special. She was a vibrant young woman."
The only daughter of Geoff and Robyn, Gibson leaves behind children Mackenzie and Kai, as well as brothers Leigh and Adam.
The latter, whose 18-year professional career included playing at the 2012 Olympic Games, led tributes to his sister on Instagram.
"We sadly said goodbye to our amazing sister/daughter/mother after a tough 18-month battle with cancer, which she fought so, so hard to stay here to be with her precious little ones," Gibson posted.
"As times got tough for her, she always had a smile on her face."
Weekend preview
The Tornadoes' weekend features a double-header, facing Diamond Valley on Friday night in Ulverstone before their Kilsyth battle at Elphin.
One of the Tornadoes' four wins for the season came against Kilsyth in May and the side come into the doubl-header following one of their best performances to date.
They went down to second-placed Knox by 21 points after trailing by just seven at half-time.
"We can see that we're actually starting to play really well together - we had the best game we've had so far," coach Veale said.
"Every time we play together we've been more consistent, we've focused on certain things and the girls were amazing on the weekend."
Belgian import Lore Devos elaborated on the strength of their first-half performance.
"It's always tough to lose but we can be proud of the patches we showed during the game," she said.
"We scored 46 points in one half against the best team in the league, so that says something.
"I think we really have to start improving as a defensive, getting teams to score less so we can win."
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
