Belarus continued their dream run at the EuroBasket by upsetting the defending champions Czech Republic 52-46 to reach the semi-finals for the first time in their history.

Facing a Belarus team that is growing in confidence with every game in Italy, the Czechs failed to score for more than nine minutes late in the game.

		Natallia Marchanka was a catalyst for Belarus once again with 11 points.

Katsyarina Snytsina scored seven of Belarus' 12 points in the final quarter and also came up with a key block of a Jana Vesela shot two minutes from the end.

Belarus, having only just won promotion from division B, will now take on the winner of Spain's quarter-final clash against Belgium.

"This is a great victory for our team and our country," said Belarus coach Anatoli Buyalski.

"Three years ago, I told a newspaper back home that our team will play in the Olympic Games and everybody laughed. Now, who knows?"

Belarus led by as many as eight points in the first half and went to the locker rooms holding a 31-27 advantage.

However, they went ice-cold midway through the third quarter, and the Czechs led by Petra Kulichova's hothand went on an 8-0 run to lead 41-39 going into the final stanza.

With 5:21 left, Snytsina made a jumper for a 43-41 lead, and she hit another shot next trip down the floor to stretch the lead to four.

Belarus led for the remainder of the game.

Snystsina finished with 10 points while team-mates Natallia Marchanka and Yelena Leuchanka added 11 apicece.

The Czech Republic hurt their chances but making six of 14 (42.9%) from the free-throw line.

Belarus, who outrebounded the Czech Republic 43-34, finished eight of 12 (66.7%) from the charity stripe.

"This is just a really really bad day for us," said forward Jana Vesela, who led her team in scoring with 11 points.

"Belarus played really well. They really played great defense. We didn't play like a team and didn't get good position for our shooters."

The Czech Republic showed off their title credentials in their narrow win against Belgium on Tuesday, a result which allowed them to finish top of Group E.

		Jan Bobrovsky has plenty of experience in big games.

The pressure will be on the defending champions when they take on Belarus in Thursday's quarterfinal in Chieti.

Belarus have been the surprising team in the 2007 EuroBasket Women so far and they will be full of confidence having knocked host Italy out of contention to reach the last eight for the first time in their history.

Last time out: Czech Republic edged Belgium 72-70 while Belarus thrashed Italy 66-51.

Key stat: Czech Republic outrebounded Belgium 44-32. Belarus were 13 of 14 (92.9%) from the charity stripe against Italy.

Key Match-up: Belarus coach Anatoli Buyalski v Czech boss Jan Bobrovsky. Buyalski's game plan was perfect against Italy and his players on both offense and defense could not have executed it any better.  Against Italy, the Belarus players always looked to make the extra pass to get the ball inside to Yelena Leuchanka and Anastasiya Veremeenko, and it paid dividends in the second quarter when they scored 14 of their team’s 19 points.
Bobrovsky led the Czechs to the title two years ago but Thursday's clash will offer him an interesting challenge.

X-Factor: Hana Machova came into this tournament not fully fit because of injuries but her experience has proved vital for the Czech Republic, especially in the last two games against Lithuania and Belgium. Machova converted a three-point play and hit a jumper to guide her team to victory against the Belgians.

Speaking out: Belarus' Natalia Marchanka: "We need to improve on certain aspects of our game, we made some mistakes on defense against Italy. But we will be ready to play in 24 hours against the Czech Republic."