U.S. Women’s Curling Team Steals Points in Later Ends for the Win

China can’t secure the points on poor hammers

Cortina Bay, ITA- The U.S. Women’s curling Team had a tough opponent against the Chinese as both sides were looking to gain an advantage against one another. Every single end that was played went down to the wire, and when it looked like China was going to take the lead and the victory, their miscalculations on the hammer towards the last two ends did them in when their stones didn’t make the impact they thought it should have made. For the USA, they forced the Chinese into a corner and took the victory as they won by a final score of six-to-five.

Overview

After a scoreless first end, China got two points in the second end for the lead as they took advantage of a poor throw from the USA, as the attempted knockout of two stones kept one inside the 12-foot to give the Chinese a chance, and they took advantage of it as they threw the hammer down slowly and it landed on the button for the two-to-nothing lead. The USA did get a point in the third end, but China rattled off a point in the next two ends for a four-to-one lead.

The start of the comeback was in the sixth end when the USA took their hammer and sent it down the sheet. The hammer took out China’s last stone and landed on thefour-foot. At the same time, the USA had a stone resting on the eight-foot, and they got their two point and cut their deficit to four-to-three. China did get another point in the seventh end to regain a two-point lead, but in the last three ends, started the downfall for the Chinese.

The USA gets a point in the eighth end to cut it back to a one-point deficit, and that triggered China’s issues in the match. The stones were set up perfectly for the USA to steal a point, or to give China a big end on their last stones. The USA set up a guard on the top right of the 12-foot, and is hoping to minimize the damage. They also took out China’s guard at the same time. China’s hammer went down the right side and missed all the stones, giving the USA a point to level the match at five.

In the tenth end and on their eighth stone, the USA called for a timeout and started their game planof where to place their last stone in the house. The throw by Tabitha Peterson was great, along with her two sweepers in Taylor Anderson-Heide and Tabitha’s sister, Tara, who swept so hard to make their last stone curl and land inside the button and part of the bottom of the four-foot to force China to make a big shot. Wang Rui sent her hammer down the sheet slowly, with help from her sweepers, but when the stone made contact at the top of the four-foot, none of the stones made any major movement to take over the button, and the USA steals a point in the end and is now 4-1 in five matches.

Olympic Curling News:

• U.S. Men’s Curling Team Upsets Sweden, Wins in Two Straight
• U.S. Women’s Curling Team Defeats Japan in the Later Ends
• U.S. Men’s Curling Team Gets a Great Start with a Win over Germany. Breaks Two Game Losing Streak
• U.S. Men’s Curling Falls to Canada, Fails on the Hammer

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