With both teams coming off losses, it was the U.S. women’s curling team that bounced back for an 8-6 win against South Korea. With the win, the United States women improved their record to 4-2 to take sole position of third place.
A huge sixth-end steal made the difference for the Americans.
The game started slowly with South Korea blanking the first end to keep the hammer and scoring a single point in the second.
Low scoring continued in the third. South Korea was in a position to steal, but a masterful slow-moving draw by Tabitha Peterson curled to barely edge out the South Korean's stone, tying the game up at one.
A miss by Kim Kyeong-Ae in the fourth end left four American stones lying in the circle after Nina Roth followed it up with a draw. Kim Eun-Jung settled for the single takeout to put South Korea up by one. Peterson and the Americans did the same in the fifth to tie it at the midpoint, 2-2.
A takeout on Tabitha Peterson's first stone left the U.S. lying two inside the house in the sixth end. After Eun-Jung rolled a stone to guard, the Americans drew another in and laid three. South Korea tried their best to get one inside, but a miss gave the United States a lead of three that proved to be insurmountable.
After the pivotal steal in the sixth, the U.S. continued their strategy of exchanging takeouts with the Koreans. However, South Korea bounced back and got two with a takeout on the hammer to move it to 5-4.
With the hammer in tow, Peterson came up huge again as skip. With one stone already biting the button, she drew another in to give the U.S. two points and a 7-4 lead.
The South Koreans could only get two in the ninth end after a hogline violation, leaving an easy tenth in which the Americans knocked out South Korea's last stone to take the win.
South Korea did beat the U.S. team on their way to a surprise silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics but lost to the Americans at the 2021 World Women’s Curling Championships.
The South Korean women will regroup quickly to face Japan at 7:05 a.m. ET on Monday, while the U.S. team waits to face Switzerland at 1:05 a.m. ET on Tuesday.