Sormunen (Duluth, Minn.) and teammates Courtney George (Duluth, Minn.), Molly Bonner (Virginia, Minn.), Moulton (Highland Park, Ill.) and Monica Walker (Sudbury, Mass.) didn't play their best game but persevered when the going got tough against Russia's Ludmila Privivkova rink, the defending world junior champions.

"We stuck tough throughout," Bonner said. "A win's a win, I guess."

The Americans struggled with their draw weight and judgment on their hits but crawled back from four points down to steal the winning points.

"We didn't play well at all," Bonner said. "We were rolling out a lot on our hits and our weight judgment wasn't good at all. We had a hard time reading the ice."

Norway lost to China, 7-5, creating tiebreaker games. Norway (5-4) play Switzerland in the first tiebreaker game at 9 p.m. tonight with Scotland getting the winner at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The Americans (8-1) will then play the winner of the final tiebreaker in the semifinal Friday night while Canada (6-3) and Denmark (6-3) will meet in the other semifinal.

"We don't really care who we play, as long as we play our best," Bonner said.

The USA started today's game a little shaky giving up a steal in the second end when she was light on her draw. But Russia struggled as well as the Americans capitalized in the third end with a deuce.

Russia had the deuce set up in the fourth end after Bonner missed a takeout but Privivkova came up short with her first shot and the end was eventually blanked. The Russians got the deuce in the fifth despite chasing the American stones for much of the end. Sormunen was heavy trying to draw into the four foot allowing Privivkova to hit the American shot rock for two.

Things turned ugly for the Americans in the sixth end when Russia got a lot of stones in the house. Sormunen came up short on a draw against four Russian stones giving Russia a steal of three.

Down four, the USA showed why they are the No. 1 playoff team as they battled back in the latter ends. Team USA got two stones in the house early and protected them in the seventh end. Privivkova tried to draw the four foot for shot rock but was heavy sliding to the back of the house. Both skips were heavy on their next two draws but Sormunen secured the deuce with a tap back on the U.S. stone in the top of the house to close the gap 6-4.

In the eighth end, the USA got four stones in the house by the time the Russian skip went to throw her first stone. Privivkova made a hit on the stone in the side of the eight-foot but left it exposed. Sormunen meant to tap it out but hit a stone of her own at the top of the house and spun into the four-foot covered by guards. Privivkova tapped her other stone forward with her last toss but it didn't have enough momentum to score giving the Americans a steal of two to tie the game at 6-6.

The Russians were able to blank the ninth end after their chance at a deuce disappeared and kept the hammer going into the final end.

Privivkova meant to peel the American guard with her first stone but hit it too firm leaving it for the Americans to use. And, that's exactly what they did as the American skip saved her best shot of the game for last, drawing behind a guard perfectly in the four foot. Privivkova couldn't chip it out giving the Americans the steal of one and the win.

"It's nice to know we can win games when we're not playing our best," Bonner said. "She definitely saved the best for last."

The women's semifinals are slated for 7 p.m. Friday with the gold-medal game at 7 p.m. Saturday. The bronze game will begin a half-hour prior to the gold-medal match.

Game scores: USA 7, Russia 6; Scotland 5, Italy 3; Denmark 9, Czech Republic 4; China 7, Norway 5; Switzerland 10, Canada 6

USA line scores:
*USA 002 000 220 1 7
RUS 010 023 000 0 6
*designates hammer in first end

Women's standings
*USA 8-1
*Canada 6-3
*Denmark 6-3
**Norway 5-4
**Switzerland 5-4
**Scotland 5-4
Russia 4-5
China 3-6
Czech Republic 2-7
Italy 1-8
*clinched playoff berths
** teams to play tiebreaker games for final semifinal berth
Playoff seeding: USA (1), Canada (2), Denmark (3)

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