US Women's Olympic Figure Skating 2018: Top Scorers, Reaction from Saturday

Bradie Tennell's debut performance at the Winter Olympics secured the United States' position in the second leg of the figure skating team event.

Tennell, who broke onto the international stage with a win at the U.S. Championships in January, dazzled in the short program to earn a score of 68.94.

NBC Olympics gave us a glance at Tennell's performance at the Gangneung Ice Arena:

Tennell's short program gained rave reviews from figure skating analysts who continued to be impressed by her poise, including Christine Brennan of USA Today:

The 20-year-old also garnered praise from former Olympian Ashley Wagner, who just missed out on the American team for Pyeongchang:

Although Tennell was the best skater of the first group of five competitors, she dropped in the standings once the more decorated Olympians took the ice.

Experienced Italian skater Carolina Kostner eventually knocked Tennell out of first, as she earned a score of 75.10 for her short program.

Kostner was one of four skaters to place ahead of Tennell. Evgenia Medvedeva of the Olympic Athletes from Russia, Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond and Japan's Satoko Miyahara eclipsed the 20-year-old American with their short programs.

Medvedeva stole the show with a first-place score of 81.06, Kostner took second with her 75.10, Osmond's 71.38 was good enough for third and Miyahara beat Tennell by one-hundredth of a point with a mark of 68.95.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

With her fifth-place finish, Tennell earned six points to give the United States a total of 29 points entering the free skate portion of the competition.

American ice dancing pair Alex and Maia Shibutani put the Americans in second place ahead of the women's short program, as they gained nine points from a second-place finish.

The Shibutanis recorded a score of 75.46 that was only bested by gold-medal favorites Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who recorded a mark of 80.51.

Alex tweeted after the performance that he was pleased with the way he and his sister skated:

After Tennell's performance, the Americans were one of five teams to qualify for the free skate, which begins with the pairs on Saturday night.

The United States sits third entering the free skate. Canada leads with 35 points, while the Olympic Athletes from Russia are second with 31 points. Japan and Italy have work to do to earn a medal, as they both totaled 26 points in the short program.

The women's free skate portion of the team event will be contested on Sunday along with the men's free skate and free dance of the ice dance discipline.

Tennell competes individually in the women's competition starting on February 20 with the short program. Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen are the other two American participants in the women's singles.

All dates/times based on NBC's U.S. TV schedule (ET), which is 14 hours behind the dates/times in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Olympic.org.