VICTORIA, February 24, 2009 (CCA) — B.C.’s Marla Mallett is putting on a show in front of her home-province fans.
Mallett and her team from the Vancouver Curling Club (third Grace MacInnes, second Diane Gushulak, lead Jacalyn Brown) swept a pair of games on Tuesday at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre to take over sole possession of first place at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship.
The latest win was a 7-5 triumph over Andrea Kelly of New Brunswick, a game that was tied going into the 10th before Mallett executed an open hit to score a winning two points.
It was an impressive bounceback day for B.C., which lost its first game of the Scotties on Monday night, to Alberta.
“We basically came out to the ice the same way (as on Monday),” said Mallett. “I mean, you have to learn from the half-shots and fix them, and bring it a little better for the next game. Every game, there’s pressure. You’ve got to bring your best to the ice every time you come out or you’re going to get beat. The field is just too good.”
New Brunswick dropped to 2-4 with the loss.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton won her fourth straight game, a 10-6 triumph over Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories/Yukon. Saskatchewan, which lost three straight to open the Scotties, opened with a deuce, gave up three in the second, then put up single points in the third and fourth ends and a sixth-end deuce to take control. The Territories suffered its fifth loss in six games.
Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche put together a late comeback to beat Krista McCarville of Ontario 10-8 in an extra end. Larouche tied the game by scoring three in the 10th end, then took advantage of two misses by Ontario earlier in the end to tuck a rock in the four-foot behind two centre guards. McCarville’s attempted double-raise takeout failed to curl enough to give the steal to Quebec.
Quebec improved to 4-2 with the win, while Ontario dropped to 3-4.
In the other Draw 10 game, Newfoundland/Labrador’s Heather Strong capped a perfect two-win Tuesday with a 9-3 thrashing of Rebecca Jean MacPhee of P.E.I. Newfoundland/Labrador put up a big four in the fourth end and never looked back en route to its third win in seven games, while P.E.I. dipped to 3-3 with the loss.
Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones (5-1), Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard (4-2), Manitoba’s Barb Spencer (2-4) and Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery (1-5) all had byes in Draw 10.
Play Tuesday wraps up with a 10:30 p.m. draw (all times Atlantic) on TSN. On Wednesday, draws are slated for 12:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., with the morning draw also available on TSN.ca. As well, archived footage from earlier draws is available from TSN.ca.