AGONY FOR CHARGERS

THE Hobart Chargers’ season ended in tears at the Derwent Entertainment Centre last night when the Launceston Tornadoes stole a SEABL first semi-final thriller 86-82.

The Torns will play either Bendigo or Dandenong next week and the Chargers go into mothballs for the summer after their intrastate colleague’s come-from-behind win.

It was a cruel end to the season for the Chargers, who had gone into the finals having won four of their past five games and had beaten Launceston twice already this year.

They were overrun in the final minute and players cried after the final buzzer and coach Dwain Davie was gutted.

“I’m pretty deflated,” Davie said.

“We held sway for most of the game.

“Some poor decision making offensively and not sticking to the plan defensively really kept them in the game when we probably should have closed it out.

“When you do that against good teams they make you pay.

“I guess that’s what happened tonight and it’s a real shame.

“The girls will sit back and look at the season now and look at it as a bit of a failure.”

With 2mins 50secs to play, the Chargers lead 80-73.

After that, they scored only one more time as the Tornadoes sank eight of the last nine scoring shots.

Launceston took the lead for the first time with one minute on the clock and in a heartstopping final 60 seconds rose to the occasion, winning their first game against Hobart on their third attempt this season.

The Chargers dominated the game from the tip-off but each time they pulled away to a handy lead Launceston reined them back in.

Kathleen Scheer was brilliant for Hobart from go to whoa, posting 22 points and eight rebounds, and right behind her was Mikaela Ruef with nine rebounds and 10 points.

Guard Alex Ciabattoni was Hobart’s hot hand offensively, scoring 23 points.

Launceston forward Lauren Nicholson was the stand-out on the night, draining a gamehigh 32 points, followed by centre Tayla Roberts (27 points), who was the most damaging player on court in the second half.

Davie said his team would look back on the game as the one that got away.

“They’ve done a hell of a job all year,” he said.

“I’m really proud of them. “I’m disappointed that we lost tonight and in the context of the season we probably deserved a better finish than that but that’s the way it is.”