GREEN Team are back-to-back Wine Country Masters women's basketball champions after a 30-21 victory over Wine & Cheese in the final at Cessnock Toyota Stadium on Sunday.
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Made up of former Cessnock, Newcastle and Maitland representative players such as Ros Wells-Davies, Cindy Mascord, Dimity Taylor, Erica James, Maree Breen, Lorraine Keith and Trish Suckling, Green Team went through undefeated, as they did at the inaugural carnival last year.
For Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, Green Team's win capped a successful September after her re-election earlier this month.
Illawarra team Smoke Bombs, appearing at their first Wine Country Masters, defeated 2016 champions Sydney YMCA 43-35 in the men's final.
Smoke Bombs remained unbeaten during the two-day carnival and inflicted Sydney YMCA's first ever defeat at the tournament.
Former National Basketball League championship-winning players Rod Johnson and Luke Doherty (Smoke Bombs) and Murray Shiels (Sydney YMCA) took part in the final.
Sydney YMCA pipped Newcastle team Huff & Puff 39-38 in a tense semi-final, and Smoke Bombs qualified with a 45-29 victory over Newcastle team Custard Chuckers.
"It's been bigger and better than last year, and definitely warmer, but everyone stayed very well hydrated," Cessnock Toyota Stadium general manager Brett Keeble said.
"We had 17 teams this year -- 11 men's and six women's -- so we had games going on both courts both days and everyone seems to have really enjoyed themselves."
Three Cessnock teams played in the Wine Country Masters -- Camo Toe and Team Heavy (men's) and Top Gun (women's).
Camo Toe, whose striking uniforms were the talk of the tournament, defeated Team Heavy 30-23 on Saturday afternoon in a keenly contested Cessnock derby.
Led by Heath Cameron and Ben Chaniago, Team Heavy's only victory for the weekend came on Sunday when they defeated Rusting Ragers Orange 37-32.
Top Gun, led by Jaclyn Zoneff, won three of their five games to finish third in the women's division behind finalists Green Team and Wine & Cheese.
The winning teams won a mixed dozen of red and white wine supplied by Petersons Wines.
Meanwhile, the Maitland Mustangs under-14 girls take on the nation’s best club teams next week at the 2017 Australian Under-14 Club Championships hosted by Dandenong Basketball in Melbourne.
The Mustangs have drawn host team the Dandenong Rangers, Sturt Sabres and Darwin Sabres in their pool at the titles which run from October 2-7 and features 24 teams from across Australia.
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