VICTORIA, February 25, 2009 (CCA)— B.C.’s Marla Mallett is playoff-bound at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The surprise team of the Canadian women’s curling championship, Mallett and her Vancouver Curling Club quartet — third Grace MacInnes, second Diane Gushulak and lead Jacalyn Brown improved to 8-1 in Draw 14 on Wednesday night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre with a 6-4 triumph over Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories/Yukon.
That win, combined with a Prince Edward Island loss, secured a spot for B.C. in the Page playoff one-two game, which means two lives in the playoff round.
B.C. opened the game with two in the first, and added stolen singles in the second and third ends and never looked back in handing the Territories their sixth loss in nine games.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton team from Saskatoon continued its remarkable turnaround with an easy victory in Draw 14.
Lawton, third (and younger sister) Marliese Kasner, second Sherri Singler and lead Lana Vey won their sixth straight game, a 10-4 triumph over New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly. Saskatchewan found itself down 3-0 through two ends, but bounced back to score two in the third, and proceeded to steal one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one more in the fifth, and the gloves came off when Saskatchewan scored four in the eighth end.
Saskatchewan got to 6-3 with the win, while New Brunswick dropped to 3-6.
Newfoundland/Labrador’s Heather Strong picked up a fourth straight victory by running up a 9-5 win over Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche, leaving both teams with 5-4 records. The teams were tied 4-4 through six ends before the Strong foursome scored a deuce in the seventh end and added three more in the ninth.
In the other Draw 14 game, Ontario’s Krista McCarville cracked a game-winning deuce in the 10th end to beat P.E.I.’s Rebecca Jean MacPhee 8-7. The result left both teams with 5-4 records and still alive for the playoffs.
Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones (6-3), Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard (5-4), Manitoba’s Barb Spencer (2-7) and Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery (1-8) all had byes in Draw 14.
Round-robin play at the Scotties concludes on Thursday with draws at 12:30 a.m. (all times Atlantic), 5 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on TSN. The morning draw will also be shown live on TSN.ca As well, archived footage from earlier draws is available from TSN.ca.
P.E.I. plays Team Canada in the 12:30 pm draw. This game will be featured on TSN. They wrap up round robin play against BC at 5 Atlantic.
The top four teams following the conclusion of round-robin play on Thursday night will make the Page playoffs. The first- and second-place teams will play either Friday or Saturday, with the winner going into Sunday’s 9 p.m. championship game on TSN.
The third- and fourth-place teams will play, either Friday or Saturday for a berth in Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal on TSN against the loser of the Page one-two game.