Milica Dabovic's driving lay-up with 2.87 seconds left gave Serbia a 67-65 shocker over 2005 EuroBasket Women and 2006 World Championship silver medallists Russia in Group F of the 2007 qualifying round.

Dabovic scored 15 of her game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter and five in the final 24 seconds as Serbia improved to 1-2 in the group while Russia dropped to 2-1 after Maria Stepanova's turn-around jumper at the buzzer went in and out.

		Ilona Korstin did what she could for Russia with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

"It's unbelievable," said Dabovic, whose previous high in points was eight against Spain while she added five rebounds, four assists, three steals and zero turnovers in 30 minutes of action.

"We believed in ourselves but we didn't believe we could beat a team like Russia. We are a team that can turn things around from one day to the next. We gave our best on the court and we won. I am happy to finally know that we can beat any team provided we play well.“

Dabovic's sure hands was a big reason Serbia prevailed in Ortona as Jovica Antonic's team committed just four turnovers for the entire game – as Russia were unable to pressure the Serb back court.

No other Serb player scored in double figures though four tallied either seven or eight points.

Igor Grudin's Russians were led by double-doubles from Stepanova (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Ilona Korstin (16 and 11).

The Russian attack was somewhat slowed with a leg injury to starter Tatiana Shchegoleva in the first period.

A major problem for the European powers was a nightmare 9-of-21 (43%) showing from the free-throw line and hitting just 2-of-10 from long distance.

Grudin blamed his players rather than praise the Serbs.

"We lost because we weren't ready for this game. Serbia isn't very strong and we didn't think they can beat us. Dabovic had some interesting moments in this game. She alone won the game by herself against Russian team."

Serbia started on fire from the outside early with Sonja Petrovic and Milijana Musovic each hitting one three-pointer and Dabovic draining two long bombs in opening a 17-4 lead in the first four minutes.

Russia found themselves back into the game with Stepanova scoring two baskets during an 8-0 spurt. But Serbia were ahead 25-17 after one period.

The Serb advantage was back up to 11 points 32-21 with more than three minutes left in the half before a 9-2 Russian attack trimmed the margin to 34-30.

A Maja Miljkovic driving lay-up with two seconds gave Serbia a 36-30 cushion going into the locker-room.

That represented the first time at the 2007 EuroBasket Women that the Serbians were ahead at the break and the Russians trailed after one half.

Serbia's lead was 42-32 midway through the third quarter when Russia charged back with a 12-3 surge to get within 45-44 on Stepanova's basket late in the period, which ended with Serbia leading 47-44.

Russia fed the ball to Stepanova and remained close but couldn't pull even as Dabovic hit a number of big shots, including a long three-pointer and a jumper with the shot clock winding down in helping Serbia pull ahead 62-55 with two minutes remaining.

Korstin sandwiched inside baskets around two missed foul shots by Monika Veselovski to trim the deficit to 62-59.

Two Dabovic foul shots made it five points again before Olga Arteshina buried back-to-back three-pointers to even the game 65-65 with 11 seconds to go, setting up Dabovic's dramatic lay-up and Stepanova's good look but miss.

Serbia next face hosts Italy on Monday while Russia look to rebound with a showdown against Belarus.

The second game of the day will match Serbia and Russia - each coming from a different world.

While Russia took on big momentum out of the preliminary round and finished their group with a 39 point win and a perfect record, Serbia lost their last two games, the last of them by 26 points to Belarus.

		Ilona Korstin has turned the ball over 11 times this tournament against just six assists.

Russia are picking up a rhythm, and at times seems like they can't wait for the final round to start.

Serbia got the prestigious win over Croatia on opening day, which was enough to qualify, but now they need to show they can do more than that, and finish above the 9th place they have already achieved two years ago.

Head to Head: In EuroBasket 2005 Russia beat Serbia 86-69 on the way to the finals after a close first half.

Last Time Out: After two tough wins Russia finally sent out a message with an 86-47 win over Greece. Serbia was part of a blow out themselves but on the other side of the fence with a 26 point loss to Belarus.

Key Match Up: Serbia's Maja Miljkovic was a barometer of her team so far. In the win over Croatia and the close loss to Spain she played well with double-digit points, only one combined turnover and nearly no missed shots. She'll have to step up once again for Serbia to have a shot. Ilona Korstin of the Russian side will try to eliminate Miljkovic and make Russia's job easier, as one of the best guard defenders the favourites have to offer.

X-Factor: Marina Puskar of Serbia can make this game a little bit more interesting. Serbia will need to somehow maintain the dominance of the Russian team in the paint. Puskar, with her 194cm, is averaging 6.3 rpg in less than 20 mpg. If she could hustle and make the Russian post players work hard, get her team some second chances on the offensive board and prevent the same from Russia on the other side, things will be better for the Serbs.

Statistics: Both teams score more or less the same amount of points, take as many shots and make in the same percentages. It's under the rim where the differences appear. Despite the fact that Serbia pulled almost four offensive rebounds more per game, the Russians tallied 10 more total rebounds. In the blocked shots department Russia averaged 6.3 while Serbia didn't even register above one per contest.

What It Means: Russia would like to try and clinch a ticket to the quarter-finals already today, and focus on the fight for the top spot in the next two days, while Serbia would like to avoid their third loss in a row.