Milica Dabovic Pulls Serbia over Russia

Serbia 67 - Russia 65

What an end to the match, Serbia had led from the tip-off and yet 11:25 second till the end of the game Olga Arteshina tied the game with all you can say a pressure 3-point shot from the corner. This may have been enough to finish any team but nobody told Milica Dobovic who had one thing in mind as she went through a host of Russian players and despite me knocked off balance completed her lay up to regain the lead with 2:80 seconds. Maria Steponova had the last shot of the game and the ball looked like it was on its way in and then lipped leaving much smaller Serbia team to saviour this victory and put them back in the competition.


Sonja Petrovic got her team off to a flying start with the first five points of the match as her side quickly put up nine points. Russia’s first point came from the free throw line through Maria Steponava after 2 1/2 minutes of play. Serbia's success from beyond the arc in the early stages soon had them leading (15:4). Igor Grudin was not happy with his players and called for a timeout but not before Irina Osipova picked a charging foul and a technical. Things started to improve for Russian as they went on a 8-point run (21-16) but Serbia kept coming back with shot after shot to lead (25-17) at the break.

Serbia might not be as tall as their opponents, but it did not them from playing some tough defense as they managed to keep the Russian giants out of the paint for most of the second period. For almost 4 minutes during the period neither side was able to score, the only worry fact for Russia was the 3rd foul picked up by Irina Osipova. Russia experience came in to play as Serbia‘s 10 point lead was reduced to 4 points and only an opportunist piece of quick thing by Millica Dabovic at the buzzer enable Serbia to take a six point lead into the interval.


Titiana Shchegoleva took a bad knock early in the game and had her leg thigh strapped with ice and her team missed her presence and with Irina Osipova on 3 fouls things looked delicate for Russian but the experience of Ilona Korstin and Maria Stepanova brought Russian to within one point of Serbia towards the end of the third quarter. Jovica Antonic was not happy with his ladies and called a timeout. Immediately after the timeout Ivana Gruba scored giving Serbia a slim three point lead going in to the final stanza.

The final period had everything you would expect from a basketball, action, suspense and excitement with a hero at the end of it Millica Dabovic scored 15 of her teams 21 points . Shchegoleva made a brief appearance for Russia but her contribution was a unsportsmanlike foul.

Russia concluded two three point plays at the death but Dabovic was in place to save her team finishing with 28 points , 4 assists and 3 steals. It was not bad for an evenings work

Post Game Interview Millica Dabovic and Sonja Petrovic