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Ontario’s Rachel Homan, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones, Canada’s Kerri Einarson and Alberta’s Selena Sturmay secured playoff berths at the Canadian women’s curling championship with victories on Wednesday.
Homan (6-0), Sturmay (6-1), Einarson (6-1), and Jones (5-1) were assured of top-three finishes in their pools at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Three-time champion Homan remained unbeaten with a 10-3 win over B.C.’s Clancy Grandy (5-2), while Sturmay came from behind for a 10-9 win in an extra end over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (4-3) in the morning draw.
Jones beat provincial counterpart Kate Cameron 10-5 in Pool B to drop the latter to 3-3 alongside Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith, who was a 7-5 winner of Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories.
Einarson (6-1) punched her ticket to the next round with a 6-5 win over Manitoba champion Kaitlyn Lawes in the late draw. Lawes fell to 3-4 but is not officially eliminated from contention yet.
Galusha, New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams and Ontario’s Danielle Inglis were eliminated from contention in Pool B with four losses apiece.
Sturmay recovered from a 6-1 deficit after four ends with a steal of three in the ninth against McCarville to put the host province up 9-7. Her Edmonton team can finish no worse than second in Pool A.
In other games, rookie Saskatchewan skip Skylar Ackerman (4-3) ranked third in Pool A following a 9-6 win over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (1-5).
McCarville, B.C.’s Corryn Brown and Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (3-4) remained in playoff contention.
Lawes beat winless Jane DiCarlo of Prince Edward Island 10-6 in the morning draw. Brown downed St-Georges 8-3.
The top three teams in each pool after Thursday’s final draw advance to Friday’s six-team playoff round, from which Saturday’s four Page playoff teams will be determined.
Tiebreaker games have been eliminated from the format. Head-to-head results followed by cumulative draw-to-the-button scores that precede each game solve ties.
The winner of Sunday’s final represents Canada at the world championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S., and earns a return trip to the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., as defending champion.
With files from Russ Hobson
© 2024 The Canadian Press