MFM Women’s Basketball head coach Ochuko Owolabi has credited relentless training, discipline and the commitment of her players for the club’s remarkable unbeaten march to the 2026 NBBF/Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League title.
MFM completed a flawless domestic campaign by defeating nine-time champions First Bank 66-64 in a dramatic overtime final at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, sealing their third league championship in four years.
For Owolabi, the triumph was the reward for months of demanding preparation rather than simply what happened during the Final Eight.
“Training, training, training. We train practically every day. We don’t wait for a tournament before we train,” Owolabi said while explaining the foundation behind her team’s consistency.
The coach revealed that completing the season without defeat had been a deliberate target.
“To go unbeaten, that was my first plan. Definitely, if we go unbeaten, we will win the trophy. So, that was our main objective,” she said. “I’m so happy and super proud of these girls. They played; I only talked.”
That unbeaten record faced its biggest threat in the final. MFM led 43-35 after three quarters before First Bank fought back to force overtime at 56-56. With the scores locked at 64-64 and five seconds remaining, Regina Iornumbe sank the decisive jumper against her former club to deliver the championship.
Owolabi said surrender was never an option even as First Bank threatened to complete the comeback.
“There was never a time I felt we were going to lose because the game was still on,” she said. “I kept telling the players, ‘It is not over until it’s over.’”
The victory restored MFM to the summit after they lost their title in 2025 and gave Owolabi a third championship as head coach, having also masterminded the club’s 2023 and 2024 successes.
For MFM, the trophy completed an unbeaten season. For Owolabi, it vindicated a simpler championship formula: train relentlessly, demand sacrifice and keep believing until the final whistle.
