Arantia Larochette won a close game at Telstar Hesperange, 73-67, and completed a 3-0 season sweep this season. The phase finale leaders stayed perfect at 7-0 and stretched their winning streak to six games, while fifth-placed Telstar dropped to 2-5.
Ivan Yeromin's team looked in control very early. Telstar burst to a 31-17 first quarter and reached a 14-point lead, with 15-year-old French captain Ketsiah Joy Dor (Season PPG: 29.73) and 14-year-old French scorer Inès Sarah Kambire (Season PPG: 23.79) setting the tone. The pair combined for 61 of Telstar's 67 points.
Arantia changed the rhythm in the second quarter. Mara Ronkar (Season PPG: 16.14) went on a real roll and scored 10 points in a 14-4 response that cut the gap from 35-19 to 35-33. Telstar still held a 41-36 advantage at halftime, but the game had clearly tightened.
The third quarter ended at 57-56, keeping everything open. Early in the fourth, after 57-57, Joao Pedro Osorio Silva's side produced the key stretch of the night: a 15-0 run to 71-57. Sara Ferreira Afonso (Season PPG: 16.47) scored 6 points in a row during that surge, while Ronkar and Maëly Horta Mascarenhas added important baskets.
Telstar reacted late with the last 10 points of the game, cutting the margin from 57-71 to 67-73, but Arantia had already created enough separation. Ferreira Afonso finished with 23 points, Ronkar 22 and Ylvi Lepage Post (Season PPG: 7.13) added 12. For Telstar, Dor had 36 and Kambire 25, although Kambire also had fourth-quarter foul trouble after an unsportsmanlike sequence.
(AI generated)