GANGNEUNG, South Korea, March 22, 2009 (CCA)— Canada’s Jennifer Jones is part of a three-way tie for the lead after the opening weekend at the Mount Titlis world women’s curling championship.
Jones’s Winnipeg team (third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer, lead Dawn Askin) improved to 3-0, tied with two-time world champ Anette Norberg of Sweden and surprising Angelina Jensen of Denmark, by knocking off Liudmilla Privivkova of Russia 8-5 before a sparse crowd Sunday night at the Gangneung International Ice Rink.
“We didn’t play very well in three of the middle ends,” said Jones. “But I actually thought we played very well after that. We ended the game very well and hopefully we carry that to (today).
While Jones struggled at times, she did manage to make some superb shots when she needed them.
In the first end, she made a delicate come-around tap to score a deuce. And three ends later, Jones made a terrific hit-and-roll to sit five guarded, forcing Privivkova to attempt a cold draw to the full four-foot to score. But the young Russian skip was heavy to give Canada a steal of three.
That made up for a Jones miss in the second end when she was trying a tap-freeze to Russian rocks that were buried behind a corner guard. Jones rolled into the open, and Privivkova made a hit to score three.
“It’s just getting used to the ice and rocks, and we didn’t adjust as quickly tonight,” said Jones. “We’ll definitely have to be sharper, but we always want to get better as the week goes on. We’re pretty satisfied with how we’re playing. There’s a lot of teams here with a ton of experience. I think you just really have to go with the conditions. There’s always going to be issues; you just have to try to deal with them as best you can. Hopefully you deal with them better than anybody else.”
On Monday, Canada takes on Scotland at 3 a.m. (all times Atlantic), and Norway’s Marianne Rorvik at 8 a.m.