Shiny gold confetti covered the State Basketball Centre court as orange-speckled huddles of family and friends celebrated with Townsville Fire players after their WNBL championship win.
Standing on his own, enjoying a quiet moment and a packet of Tiny Teddies biscuits - a snack from children Millah and Lucas' lunchbox - was Shannon Seebohm. The triple coach of the year had just achieved championship glory in the league for the first time.
Earlier this month, the 34-year-old told ESPN how he unexpectedly fell in love with coaching after his playing career was cut short as a teenager when he went into cardiac arrest at NBL team training in 2008.
He landed his first WNBL gig coaching Sydney at age 26 year and quickly carved out a reputation as one of the best young coaches in the country with a proven record of developing young talent.
In game 127, Seebohm joins esteemed company like Tom Maher and Carrie Graf who coached WNBL titles early in their careers and would go on to lead the Opals to Olympic medals. It's a path Seebohm will inevitably follow.
Import centre Tianna Hawkins returns home to Washington with not one but two medals for show and tell for son Emanuel.
The WNBA championship player has been a revelation for the Fire at both ends of the court, averaging 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season, played every minute of her team's 2-0 semi-final sweep of Perth then produced telling contributions in the Grand-Final series.
With 20 points in Game One and 18 in the second, including some crucial buckets down the stretch to repel the Flyers, she won the Rachael Sporn Medal for Grand Final MVP.
She dedicated her award to her seven-year-old child who has remained in school in the US while she played out the WNBL season. She hasn't seen him since December.
"I can't wait to get home to you Emmanuel," Hawkins said in her acceptance speech post-game.
"This is for him. It has not been easy, but they (Townsville) made it easy every single day."
When Townsville won its Round 1 game against the UC Capitals on November 6, Kate Gaze was reporting from the sidelines on the live stream.
She was grieving a 190-something game career she began as a teenager which would net two championships but come to an abrupt halt during free agency last year.
Moving from Melbourne back to Townsville to be with her new partner Jeff, Gaze was in the right place at the right time when Morgan Yaeger sustained a back injury and Seebohm needed to sign another player.
Gaze would notch her 200th league game in the finals and on the last day of the season be crowned champion once again.
Another player who began the season elsewhere was Shyla Heal.
After parting ways with Sydney Flames following her father Shane's departure as head coach, Heal returned to the Fire, who she helped lead to their last Grand Final in 2020 under Seebohm, in Round 13.
Reunited with the likes of captain Lauren Nicholson, Steph Reid and Zitina Aokuso on court, the 21-year-old has played her best basketball in the orange uniform.
The former top WNBA draft pick produced a terrific finals campaign, doing critical things at critical times against the Lynx then packing a punch off the bench in Game 1 of the championship series with 23 points. Her early points again important in Game Two.
Heal would celebrate her 100th game with a title.
Pint-sized point guard Reid showed again why she's the best point guard in the Opals squad and one of the best defensive players in the land in a season where she shone and was a main driver in the Fire's campaign, winning streak and fourth title.
There's no bells and whistles when it comes to Mikaela Ruef but the tough forward proved to be one of the recruits of the season.
Joining Townville from Canberra, Ruef was a constant offensively and defensively and the unsung hero in the deciding Grand Final Game 2 with 13 rebounds, 12 points, 4 assists and 2 steals.
Every title has an ultimate team player and for Townsville it's the selfless Courtney Woods who answered the call whenever her coach called on her.
When captain Lauren Nicholson and Reid were injured through February, Woods stepped on to the floor and stepped up.
On a huge Round 13 road trip to Perth where the Fire and Lynx would, at the time, battle for fourth spot, Woods grasped her on-court opportunity with 42 points across two telling victories.
She didn't hit the court on her next trip west, for Semi-Final Game 2, but would light up the home crowd in the opening game of the Grand-Final Series with 11 points off the bench.
It was sweet 16 for the Fire who's hot winning streak culminated in a championship and there were as many tales as there were contributors in Townsville's latest success.