It took just one day for the the first uspet at the Umcor U18 European Championship Women in Tenerife and it came courtesy of minnows Sweden.

Playing in Division A for the first time, the Swedes took on Russia in their opening contest and stunned the defending champions 65-55.

Russia knew they would be in for a tough game as early as the opening three minutes when they took an early lead, 2-5, through a Frida Eldebrink three-pointer.

The game then stayed close for 25 minutes, before consecutive threes from Sweden opened up a 31-37 lead for the underdogs midway through the third quarter.

Two field goals in a row from Eldebrink at the start of the fourth quarter gave Sweden a 10-point cushion, 39-49, but the game was far from over.

Russia responded with an 11-0 run and were suddenly ahead, 50-49 with four minutes to play.

However, this thriller still had one remaining twist thanks to point guard Eldebrink and center Louice Halvarsson.

Halvarsson netted a three-pointer to put Sweden back in front and Eldebrink then split a pair from the line to make the score 50-53.

On the next possession, Eldebrink stripped Russian guard Irina Romanova and scored with a lay-up to increase the lead to five points, 50-55.

Following a Romanova miss, Halvarsson then made a huge three-pointer to put Sweden up by 8, 50-58.

Russia called timeout, but guard Olga Petrova missed a jump shot and it was Halvarsson who again scored in the clutch. Her shot proved to be the game-breaker and with just 1 minute to go, Sweden led 50-60, and eventually closed the game winners, 55-65.

Eldebrink finished with a game high 17 points to go along with 7 rebounds, while Halvarsson had 12 points and 7 rebounds.