Belarus Upsets Czech Republic

The deciding factor in this low scoring game was a 9:0 run by Belarus in the fourth quarter that put them in front for the very last time. Not even a late 3-pointer by Eva Viteckova at the wire was enough to put Anatoli Buyaiski team out of their stride as they edged out the defending champions.

After the game the one word that come from the players of Belarus is that they are a team, they do not want to talk about their individual performance. Yelena Leuchanka and Natalia Marchanka in separate interviews after the game made similar statements , it is not about statistics, the scoreboard show that we won. They also mentioned that the enormity of this result has not sunk in yet bet maybe in a couple of hours time it will. Ivana Vercerova mentioned after the game, summed up the result simple "we did it ourselves" For the first time since the start of this competition Belarus showed emotion after the game which was nice to see.

No fireworks in the opening period with the defending champions dominating affairs (10-2) for the first five minutes. Growing in confidence Belarus stated to cause the defending champions problems and found their mark after the Czech team missed some easy shots. Natallia Marchanka got the Belarus shooting machine started with a shot from down town which immediately resulted in a time-out for the Czech Republic. This short interruption of the game did not make much difference for The Czech Republic as they still looked out of sorts and only recovered at the end of the period after seeing their lead cut to 1-point before Hana Machova restored order for her side with a trey to give them a four point lead at the (15-11) at the end of the first period.

Katsiaryna Snytsina started the second period with a score from beyond the arc and Belarus' comeback was complete when Marchanka hit a second 3 just in front of the arc to take the leadfor the second time this evening. Machova responded in kind with another trey but for her sides the lead was short-lived as Belarus began to show another side to their game with points coming from all angles of the court to edge in front (25-23) at the midway point in the period, reaching a maximum lead of 7-points before conceding some of their advantage to lead by 4-points at the break.

A very tactical third period only came to life in the last four minutes as the Czechs trailing (39-33) started to use their slight height advantage in the paint to good work as they scored the last 8 points of the half to regain the lead (41-39) going in the final period.

We had to wait 4:27 seconds for the first score in the final quarter and once again it was Natallia Marchanka finding something special as she weaved through a host of bodies to a lay-up to tie the game (41-41). Snytsina put Belarus back in front 90 seconds later with a nicely executed jump shot just inside the arc. Jan Bobrovsky called a time-out, but nothing changed offensively as the Czechs were not able to get anybody inside. Snytsina was not able to drive the lanes and took an off-balanced jump shot that hit the mark. The pace of the game suddenly increased but once again Belarus survived a Czech Republic raid and then somehow Natallia Marchanka managed to hit another trey (48-41). Jana Vesela stopped the Belarus' sequence with a lay-up. Eve Viteckova ( hit a 3 with 51 seconds remaining to set up a tension packed finale. Katsiaryna Snytsina held her nerves at the free throw line to sent Belarus into the semi-final.

Katsiaryna Snytsina finished with 10 points while team-mates Natallia Marchanka and Yelena Leuchanka added 11 apiece. Jana Vesela led her team in scoring with 11 points.