Finalists Determined for Men's & Women's Basketball Coupe de Luxembourg

This past weekend, the semi-final matches of the Loterie Nationale Coupe de Luxembourg and the LALUX Ladies Cup in basketball took place at the Coque sports complex in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Over two days, on Saturday 18 January and Sunday 19 January 2025, the finalists for the men’s and women’s national cups were decided.

Men’s Loterie Nationale Coupe de Luxembourg

In the men’s competition, the first match saw 25-time national cup winners Etzella Ettelbruck face off against Amicale Steesel. The Coque sports complex hosted a full house of spectators. Steesel opened the game with a 9:0 lead, but their advantage had diminished by the end of the first quarter, which concluded 23:19 in their favour. In the second quarter, three-pointers by Yann Wolff and Philippe Gutenkauf put Etzella in the lead, stretching their advantage to 10 points (46:36) by half-time. Despite Steesel’s efforts to reduce the deficit early in the second half, they could not close the gap to fewer than five points. Etzella then extended their lead further and ultimately secured an 87:62 victory.

Philippe Gutenkauf played the entire match for Etzella, scoring six of ten three-point attempts. The guard finished with 27 points, seven assists and three rebounds. In a Chronicle.lu interview after the game, Gutenkauf expressed his excitement: “It’s always great to be in the final, especially of the cup. Because I don’t know if you know, our club has won the most cups in Luxembourg - 25, and I think we want to do that again and again. Last year we lost in the semi-finals. But yeah, today we had a really great game. We played great defence to keep them at 62 points and to score 87 in this gym. I think we did very, very good.”

The second finalist was determined to be Basket Esch, who narrowly overcame Arantia Larochette in an intense encounter. Esch led by six points at half-time (46:40), but strong performances from Arantia’s Mykolas Maindron (30 points) and Isaiah Demond White (25 points) kept the game close. The third quarter ended in a tie, maintaining Esch’s six-point advantage. However, Esch performed better in the final quarter and secured a hard-fought 91:88 victory. Gregory Jay Milton III (21 points), Quinten Gregory Dee Nelson (23 points) and captain Thomas Grun (17 points) played all 40 minutes, contributing a combined total of 61 points for their team.

The Loterie Nationale Coupe de Luxembourg final between Etzella Ettelbruck and Basket Esch will take place on Saturday 15 March 2025 at the Coque in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Women’s LALUX Ladies Cup

In the women’s semi-finals, AB Contern and Gengewald Hueschtert delivered a competitive match, finishing the first half tied at 27:27. After the break, league leaders and undefeated Gengewald took the lead thanks to their top scorer Alexus Latrese Johnson, who achieved a double-double with 25 points and 20 rebounds. Trailing 40:46 heading into the final quarter, AB Contern managed to narrow the gap but could not overtake their opponents. Following a time-out, Gengewald made another run, with Amanda Brooke Cahill’s precise shots extending the lead to seven points. Gengewald held on to claim a 60:57 victory.

After the game, Amanda, who is an experienced Gengewald player, praised their opponents in an interview with Chronicle.lu: “We got some stops towards the end that were really important, and I think no matter what, we stuck together. We had a lot of shots that didn’t fall and just some errors that I think were better than usual, but again, credit to Contern. They played a great game. They made some big shots, maybe fooled us also. And today, we were just happy to get the win in advance.”

In the second women’s semi-final, Sparta Bertrange defeated T71 Dudelange 82:62. Sparta set the foundation for their victory in the first quarter, taking an 18-point lead (29:11). They maintained control throughout the game, allowing their opponents to score more points only in the final quarter. Sparta guard Regan Hayes Schenck achieved a double-double, contributing 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The LALUX Ladies Cup final between Sparta Bertrange and Gengewald Hueschtert will also take place on Saturday 15 March 2025 at the Coque sports complex in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.