Greece was knocked out of its first ever World Championships by Belarus who scraped a 74-70 win in the battle for fourth place in Group E at the FIBA World Championship for Women.

The victory sealed a place in the Quarter-Finals for the Belarusians and threw them into a clash with Russia, while Greece failed to make it out of the tough group after losing to Australia in the side’s previous match.

Yelena Leuchanka had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Belarus. “For our team, it’s a big moment to play in the World Championship and move to the next round,” Leuchanka said.

“We played against a great team and knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I’m just glad at crunch time, we came together.”

Belarus led by nine four minutes into the fourth quarter but Greece never quit and tried to claw their way back.

Two Stella Kaltsidou free-throws and four consecutive points by Dimitra Kalentzou closed the gap to 65-62 with 4:03 remaining.

Leuchanka, who had been on the bench in foul trouble, checked back into the game and immediately earned a trip to the line and sank two attempts.

With 1:01 to go, after Natallia Marchanka split a pair at the charity stripe, Stella Kaltsidou hit a shot in the lane and then after a Nataliya Trafimava turnover, Kaltsidou drew contact outside the lane and managed to make a jump shot to reduce the arrears to 72-70 with 26 seconds to play.

Belarus were able to run the clock down to 10 seconds before Greece fouled Marchanka and she sank both free-throws to ice the victory.

After the game, the Belarus players ran across the court and hugged injured teammate Katsiaryna Snytsina, who travelled to the Czech Republic with her parents to support the side.

Greece, like Belarus, played in the FIBA World Championship for Women for the first time. “It was a success for us since last season,” said Kaltsidou, who had a game-high 29 points.