Late Burst From Serbia & Montenegro Sees Off Belarus

It took Serbia & Montenegro all of 36 minutes to find their "A" game against Belarus on day two of the Umcor U18 European Championship Women in Tenerife, but when they did finally decide to compete, it was with deadly efficiency.

Belarus were desperately seeking a win after suffering a 2-point loss against Hungary on day one, and for most of the fourth quarter, victory seemed to be in the bag.

It was actually Serbia & Montenegro who led in the early stages, although both sides failed to find any rhythm in their offensive game.

However, it was Belarus who looked to have peaked at the right moment. They outscored Serbia & Montenegro 12-2 over the final six and a half minutes of the third quarter to turn a 24-31 deficit into a 36-33 advantage.

Belarus then hit three of four field goal attempts to start the fourth quarter and take a 42-33 lead.

With 4:41 to go in the game, Belarus led 49-39 and were comfortably in control.

However, that was the point when Serbia & Montenegro decided to move into another gear.

A three-pointer from Andja Ivkovic sparked a revival and consecutive steals from Ana Dabovic led to four trips to the free throw line for Maja Miljkovic. Suddenly Belarus' lead was down to 3 points, 49-46.

Dabovic then nailed a three to tie the scores and on the next play, Smiljana Ivanovic's lay-in gave Serbia & Montenegro the lead.

Ivkovic then hit another three, and Sonja Petrovic added insult to injury when her steal and breakaway lay-up capped a 17-0 run to give her side a 50-56 lead with 1:31 to play.

Belarus managed to narrow the gap to two points, but Dabovic iced the game with a three-point play in the final seconds.

Petrovic led Serbia & Montenegro with 15 points and 9 rebounds, while Ivkovic had 13 and Miljkovic 12.