Team USA will go into the third and final day of the 2018 Curtis Cup with a 9-3 lead ©Curtis Cup

The United States are on the brink of reclaiming the Curtis Cup from Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) after extending their lead to 9-3 on the second day of play at Scarsdale, New York.

Team USA need just one-and-a-half points from the eight available from tomorrow's concluding singles matches to return the Cup to America after the three-point defeat at Enniskerry in Ireland two years ago.

This biennial contest between female amateur golfers from the US and Britain and Ireland, which was first contested in 1932, effectively tipped on the middle day.

The hosts, who carried a 4-2 lead from day one, earned five of the six points available in the morning's four-ball matches and afternoon's foursomes at the Quaker Ridge Golf Club.

Kristen Gillman, the 20-year-old from Austin, Texas who had helped claim two victories on the opening day, maintained her 100 per cent record.

Kristen Gillman, left, and Lauren Stephenson pictured after putting Team USA 9-2 ahead on the second day of the Curtis Cup in New York ©Twitter
Kristen Gillman, left, and Lauren Stephenson pictured after putting Team USA 9-2 ahead on the second day of the Curtis Cup in New York ©Twitter

The 2014 US Amateur champion partnered the reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association champion Jennifer Kupcho to earn a 3&2 victory over Olivia Mehaffey and Sophie Lamb.

Gillman then paired with her University of Alabama team-mate Lauren Stephenson to win the afternoon foursomes match against Annabell Fuller and India Clyburn 6&5.

So Gillman now has a chance to match the feat of US compatriot Stacy Lewis in 2008 and England's Bronte Law in 2016, in winning all five matches in a single Cup competition since the format was changed to three days a decade ago.

The home team swept all three of the morning matches, with Mariel Galdano and Lilia Vu beating Alice Hewson and Annabell Fuller 2&1, and Lucy Li and Andrea Lee beating Lily May Humphreys and Shannon McWilliam 3&2.

Mehaffey - one of two returning GB&I players from 2016 - and Lamb earned the visitors' only point of the day in the first of the afternoon foursomes, 2&1 over Kupcho and Vu, respectively world-ranked two and one.

But then Gillman and Stephenson stepped in, and Li and Sophia Schubert claimed the final victory of the day 7&5 over Paula Grant and McWilliam.

Schubert, the reigning US Women's Amateur champion, will contest the opening singles match of the final day against Mehaffey.

Meanwhile, the two captains have had different messages for their charges.

"I just keep reminding them, stay focused, one shot at a time," said Team USA's Virginia Derby Grimes.

"It's not over until it's over."

Elaine Farquharson-Black, who presided over the 2016 victory, insisted: "We can still do it.

"Every single one of them can beat every single one of the Americans, and we've got to believe that, and we've got to go out fighting."