Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu
On Friday 15 and Sunday 17 May 2026, Luxembourg’s Basketball Enovos League crowned its 2025/2026 season champions, with T71 Dudelange winning the women’s title and Etzella Ettelbruck successfully defending the men’s championship after completing their respective finals series unbeaten.
In the women’s final, T71 Dudelange defeated AB Contern 95-54 in front of a packed home crowd. The hosts built a 21-point advantage during the first half, with Lauren Van Kleunen scoring fourteen points across the opening two quarters. T71 maintained the intensity after the break, with the 27-year-old American forward finishing as the top scorer of the decisive game with 20 points and eleven rebounds.
Team captain Catherine Mreches added nineteen points for Dudelange. The point guard returned from injury during the semi-final series against Basket Esch and expressed her satisfaction at being able to help the team secure the title.
“I was saying before the season, first goal is just to get back. In October, I did my first comeback. I was super happy to just being able to play again because last year around that time I was thinking about maybe quitting because it doesn't work. So I put a lot of work in it. I'm glad it worked out,” Catherine Mreches told Chronicle.lu. “Yeah, unfortunate that I got a second injury. I had to come back again, but yeah, you just have to set new goals. At the end the goal was to finish the season at the time.”
Speaking about the finals series, she added: “I would never say that finals is easy. It's intense practise. It's hard weeks where you have to put the priority on basketball and not something else. I feel like we put in the work and we showed it on the court so that's what matters at the end.”
T71 head coach Tom Schumacher said he was satisfied with the execution of the game plan. “I'm very satisfied because the game plan worked 100% to make them tired on offence, to get a lot of pressure on defence through pressure, sub in sub out, get the young core in and pressure again because it made them tired and made them tired on their shots and all that kind of stuff. So it worked perfectly. I mean, if you win by 40 on the third game, there's not a lot to say.”
Looking ahead to next season, Tom Schumacher confirmed that the club would aim to complete a league and cup double. “I mean we have the team to do it. We want to try to do it. Of course it's not that easy, but hey, T71, if you have a team like that, a good call between experienced players and young players. Yeah, we want to win the double. There's no secret about it.”
In the men’s Enovos League final, Gavin Love’s Etzella Ettelbruck defended the championship title after defeating Sparta Bertrange 87-81 in front of their home supporters.
Etzella led 27-23 after the opening quarter and held a six-point advantage at half-time, with 41-year-old American forward Billy McDaniel scoring thirteen points during the first half. A buzzer-beating three-pointer by Adrian Delph extended the hosts’ lead to 64-54 heading into the final quarter.
Sparta Bertrange fought back in the closing stages, but the game was ultimately decided in the final seconds when Thomas Henkel hit two crucial three-pointers for Etzella. Billy McDaniel finished as the top scorer of the game with 21 points, while Nicholas Davis and Adrian Delph each added 20 points for the champions.
