Britain scores Olympic-record 7 points in 1 end

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Britain's women curlers set an Olympic record by scoring seven points in one end during a round-robin game against the United States on Tuesday.

The previous record was six points, set by Sweden's men's team in 2002 and Canada's men in the gold-medal match against Finland in 2006, World Curling officials said.

The maximum score a team can achieve in one end is eight points.

British skip Eve Muirhead sealed what is known as a "seven-ender" by knocking a U.S. stone out of the house with her last shot of the fourth end. It left seven of her rocks in the points-scoring target area.

"There have been sevens floating around (in other competitions),"Muirhead said, "but for the girls to score a seven in their first Olympic win is fantastic."

U.S. skip Erika Brown left an open shot for Muirhead to complete the seven-point haul after trying to rectify a number of misses by her teammates earlier in the end.

"I hadn't actually sat there and counted them up until I threw my last shot," Brown said. "I thought, 'Oh dear.'

"Obviously it's not the record I hoped to be a part of."

The previous women's record was five, achieved by several teams.

Britain won the match 12-3. The U.S. is 0-3.