Wellington, Dec 18 NZPA - The national women's basketball championship (WBC) looks set to expand to 14 teams next year, five more than its inaugural 2009 season.

Harbour Breeze won the WBC which filled the void left when the women's national basketball league (WNBL) folded two years ago.

The WBC format, played over three weekends a month apart and culminating in a "championship" tournament, has proved so popular, more teams have committed to taking part next season.

"The goal of the WBC is to get women playing basketball again and to provide a competition to develop our elite players," organiser Brett Goebel said today.

"We are excited to be able to address this by having 14 teams compete next year."

This year's teams -- Auckland, Canterbury Wildcats, Harbour Breeze, NZ Academy, Otago Goldrush, Taranaki Trojans, Waikato Cougars, Waikato Wizards and Wellington Swish - will be joined by Auckland and Waitakere (who had previously combined as GABBA Gators), Hutt Valley, Palmerston North, Nelson Sparks and Waikato Lady Titans.

Goebel said two more teams were on standby in event of withdrawals.

The tournaments are scheduled for June 24-26 at New Plymouth, July 22-24 at Waitakere and August 19-21 at Dunedin.

If 14 teams make the start line, the first two weekends will consist of a round robin in two sections of seven. Accumulated points will provide seedings for the finals tournament in August - the top six will contest the championship, the other eight will compete for the plate.