VICTORIA, February 27, 2009 (CCA) — B.C.’s Marla Mallett is one victory away from claiming her first Canadian women’s curling championship.
Mallett and her team from the Vancouver Curling Club posted a 7-5 win over Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche Friday night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Page playoff one-two game.
With the win, Mallett, third Grace MacInnes, second Diane Gushulak and lead Jacalyn Brown advance to Sunday’s 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic) championship final on TSN.
The teams were tied 2-2 through five ends of a defensive struggle. But in the sixth end, Larouche’s attempt to hit and roll behind a guard failed to curl enough, and Mallett made the open hit to score three.
Quebec had a chance to cut the lead in the seventh as Larouche had to draw the eight-foot to score two. But her draw weight was lacking and she didn’t touch the paint and had to settle for a single, and B.C. took control for good with two in the eighth end.
“One game, baby. That’s what we’re here for,” said Mallett. “It feels great. There’s still a lot of work to be done. And like I’ve been saying all week, we’re back to the process. We’re going to go out, we’ve got to throw the right weight, and we’ll see what happens.”
Quebec gets a second chance at reaching the final on Saturday when it plays the winner of the Page three-four game in the semifinal at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton takes on Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones in the three-four game Saturday at 3:30 p.m.; both Saturday games will be televised by TSN.
The winner of Sunday’s final advances to the world women’s championship, set for March 21 to 29 in Gangneung, South Korea.
Meanwhile, the first and second all-star teams were announced following the B.C. victory.
Named to the first team were Lawton, Team Canada third Cathy Overton-Clapham, Gushulak and Saskatchewan lead Lana Vey.
Named to the second team were Mallett, MacInnes, Saskatchewan second Sherri Singler and Quebec lead Joelle Sabourin.