CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat beat Canada before ending the United States’ unbeaten run to clinch their place in the mixed doubles curling semi-finals at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Saturday.

Mouat and Dodds, who were world champions in 2021 and finished in fourth place at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, sit atop the round-robin standings after winning their first seven games in the competition.

They can no longer be caught by Canada or Switzerland, who are joint-fifth.

The British pair sealed a hard-fought win over Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman in the morning session, before returning to the ice and beating Americans Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse 6-4.

“It’s always a nice feeling to know you’re qualified, but we want to still continue to play well,” Dodds said.

“And today, those two games were definitely our A performances out there and we’ll need to continue that. So we’ll continue that into tomorrow and hopefully we can secure a top spot.”

It was a disappointing day for the U.S. pair. After entering the day as one of two remaining unbeatens with a 4-0 record, they also took a 6-5 defeat to South Korea’s

Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong.

ITALY BEAT NORWAY, AGAIN

In the evening session, champions Italy beat two-time Olympic medalists Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien of Norway 6-5 in a rematch of the final in Beijing four years ago.

In a close encounter, both teams appeared to struggle to get a read of the ice, with Norway’s Nedregotten miscalculating a shot in the final end which enabled Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner to set up a steal and nab the win.

“Sometimes it’s the way the game needs to go, a couple of times we have been unlucky, and this time we were lucky, it’s always 50-50,” Mosaner said.

“Today we had some luck and we take it, to win a championship we need it.”

Italy’s win moves them up to joint-second in the standings, with Norway in joint-seventh.

Earlier on Saturday, Sweden’s Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa clinched a 9-4 win over Italy to boost their hopes of a top-four finish.

The Czech pairing of Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky beat South Korea 9-4 to pick up their first win of the tournament.

Teams play nine times in the round-robin stage at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, with the semi-finals taking place on Monday and the medal matches scheduled for Tuesday.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

Azzi Fudd’s 17 points led all five starters in double figures for top-ranked Connecticut in an 80-48 trouncing of Butler on Saturday at Hartford, Conn.

Serah Williams, Allie Ziebell, and Ashlynn Shade all scored 11 points, and KK Arnold had 10 points for the Huskies (25-0, 14-0 Big East). UConn made only five of 17 attempts from 3-point range. Reserve Jana El Alfy had 11 rebounds.

UConn played without sophomore Sarah Strong, who sat out for the first time in her career for what was termed an opportunity to rest. She was one of three Huskies who didn’t play, but they built a 44-19 halftime lead, with Fudd accounting for 15 points by the break.

Butler’s Caroline Dotsey had 13 points, but the Bulldogs (9-15, 3-11) committed 23 turnovers.

No. 12 Michigan State 81, Penn State 70

Grace VanSlooten scored 20 points, and the Spartans dug out of a 16-point deficit and used stellar second-half defense to avoid an upset despite Kiyomi McMiller’s 37-point outing at University Park, Pa.

Jalyn Brown’s 16 points, Rashunda Jones’s 14 points, and Kenndy Blair’s 12 points helped Michigan State (20-4, 9-4 Big Ten), which was 7-for-27 on 3s.

Miller made 16 of 33 shots from the field with three 3-pointers. Penn State (8-16, 1-12) poured in 28 first-quarter points and led 45-33 at halftime, but the Nittany Lions scored only 25 second-half points.

No. 20 West Virginia 87, Arizona 68

Kierra Wheeler’s 17 points came on 8-for-11 shooting, as the Mountaineers rolled at Morgantown, W. Va.

Sydney Shaw had 16 points, Jordan Harrison posted 14 points to go with eight steals, and Gia Cooke added 13 points for the Mountaineers (20-5, 10-3 Big 12), who led 50-26 at halftime. They shot 50% for the game from the field.

Arizona (11-12, 2-10) couldn’t overcome 29 turnovers, despite Tanyuel Welch’s 17 points and Daniah Trammell’s 15 points. The ball handling woes negated the Wildcats’ 51.7% shooting from the floor.

No. 22 Maryland 78, Nebraska 60

Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu racked up 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting to go with nine rebounds, as the Terrapins secured the victory at Lincoln, Neb.

Oluchi Okananwa had 14 points, reserve Rainey Welson notched 13 points, and Yarden Garzon added 11 points for Maryland (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten), which used a 30-point second quarter to build a 45-28 halftime lead.

Logan Nissley had 22 points, but Nebraska (16-8, 5-8) was stung by 22 turnovers and a 39-26 rebounding deficit. Nissley had six of the team’s nine 3-point baskets.

–Field Level Media

Adrien Stevens scored a career-high 18 points and Chase Ross added 17 of his 19 points after halftime to lead Marquette’s second-half surge in a 70-55 win over Butler on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee.

Stevens scored all of his points from 3-point range, making six of his nine attempts. The Golden Eagles (9-15, 4-9 Big East) made a season-high tying 14 3-pointers as a team, while shooting 45.2%, well above their 31.5% season average from the perimeter.

Ross made four 3-pointers with five assists and four rebounds. Nigel James Jr. tallied 16 points and four steals for Marquette, which won its third straight home game.

Finley Bizjack led Butler (13-11, 4-9) with 23 points for his 11th 20-point game of the season. He made 5 of 7 shots from 3-point range. Michael Ajayi paired eight points with 19 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who dropped their fourth straight game.

Butler was 32.8% from the floor and 28.6% from outside the arc, negating its 43-30 rebounding advantage.

Nine of the 3-pointers in Marquette’s perimeter barrage came in the second half. The Golden Eagles led 32-28 at halftime before opening the second half on a 22-9 run to create a 54-37 lead with 13:58 left.

During that stretch, Marquette made five 3-pointers, including one from Stevens and one each from Parham and Ross.

The Bulldogs eventually responded with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 57-47 with 8:58 left, but a scoring drought of just over six minutes followed, preventing them from getting within single digits.

The teams traded runs early in the game, with Marquette remaining ahead even as Butler made its own surges. The Bulldogs twice cut the deficit to one point before finally taking its first lead on a Bizjack 3-pointer with 6:43 left in the half.

Bizjack finished the first half with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3 of 3 from outside the arc.

Marquette ended the first half on an 8-0 run over the final 1:55 to turn a four-point deficit into a four-point lead. James led the Golden Eagles with 10 first-half points on 3-of-9 shooting.

–Field Level Media