Serbia went on a big scoring run that bridged the first and second quarters and beat Bulgaria 73-67 to finally taste victory in EuroBasket Women qualifying Group D.

Edged out at home by Greece and then defeated soundly at Belgium, the Serbians were in danger of falling into an 0-3 hole.

The home side trailed 17-15 when they took command.

Jelena Milovanovic, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the game, buried a jump shot with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

The Serbs would go on to score nine points to end the first period and they poured in the first eight of the second as well for a 32-17 stranglehold on the game.

Milovanovic had seven of her points in the surge.

Bulgaria clawed the deficit back to four in the second quarter but the hosts reclaimed a 45-36 lead by half-time and stayed in command the rest of the way.

Adrijana Knezevic and Ana Perovic each scored 14 points to top the scoring for Serbia.

Evelina Guneva had a game-high 21 in defeat for Bulgaria.

Gergana Branzova-Erdeney also had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the visitors, who are now 1-2.