BEIJING (Olympic) – The Belarus miracle will continue at least until the quarter-finals.

That was assured on Friday night when the eastern European side beat Korea 63-53 for their second win in four games to go third in Group A.

Before last summer, this former Soviet Republic has never even played in a EuroBasket and now they will be competing among the top eight sides in the world.

Anatoly Buyalski's team had to beat Brazil in overtime in their quarter-final at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament just to reach the Beijing Games and since arriving, they’ve been doing more than just making up the numbers.

After an opening defeat to Australia, Belarus hammered Latvia and though they suffered a narrow defeat to Russia, the team has responded with a big win over Korea.

Katsiaryna Snytsina led the way with 15 points and Anastasiya Verameyenka had 14, but possibly the top performance came from Yelena Leuchanka.

A player who has overcome serious injuries to both knees in her career, Leuchanka had 14 rebounds to go with her 10 points.

Verameyenka also finished with 10 boards. Belarus out-rebounded the smaller Koreans 46-25.

Belarus could not be accused of being in a rush to get on top of the Koreans after scoring just two points in the opening six minutes of the game.

That allowed Korea to build a 13-2 lead to set alarm bells ringing back in Minsk.

Belarus responded with a 10-0 run to claw the deficit back to 13-12 before Jung Sunmin’s jump shot inside the arc gave the FIBA Asia champions a three-point advantage by the end of the quarter.

Belarus took the lead and then went in front by seven on a three-pointer by Snytsina before a basket by Sin Jungja reduced the arrears for Korea to 33-28 at half-time.

Nataliya Trafimava scored when play resumed at the beginning of the second half as Belarus hit the Koreans with an 8-0 spurt for a 41-28 lead.

They led by as many as 15 before the Koreans scaled it back to 10.

Lee Misun and Jung each had 10 points for Korea, who weren’t able to rely on their long-range shooting on Friday. They finished a woeful four of 27 (15%) from behind the arc.

The winner of Korea’s clash with Latvia on Sunday will reach the quarter-finals as the fourth-place team from Group A.

Belarus won despite turning the ball over 30 times. They will look to go into the last eight on a high when they take on Brazil.

FIBA