Jennifer Jones and Kaitlyn Lawes at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Photo by: Andrew Klaver)

There’s something about Jennifer Jones and the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts. They go together like hand and glove. Much like it used to be with Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones, the Scotties legend whose records the Manitoba Jones is trying to match, one by one.The defending Scotties champion skip added another notch to the belt at the Civic Centre on Saturday night, tossing a last-rock come-around draw to the face of Quebec counter behind the button to record Team Canada’s first victory of this latest national women’s championship.

“They (Quebec) played a perfect 10th end,” said Jones in the wake of her nationally-televised 7-6 win. “We didn’t play a bad 10th end but all you wanted was a shot and we had a shot and the girls swept it perfectly.” 

Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche was chasing of most of the debate after missing a button draw for an opening deuce in the third end but manufactured deuces on the seventh and ninth ends to tie the score playing the final exchange.“We’re pretty happy with how we played after a long day with the Hot Shots,” said Jones, who also won that skills competition for the first time. “There’s always a little doubt (about the last shot) because I hadn’t thrown a lot of draws that game. The line was a little bit tight for a time but it just ended up perfect.” Four others joined Jones with single wins on the day. British Columbia’s Kelly Scott whipped Stacie Devereaux of St. John’s 7-2 on the late draw while Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario all win their lone assignments in the afternoon.

 New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly of Oromocto had an opportunity to climb to the head of the pack with a second win Saturday night but watched her last freeze effort overcurl allowing Heather-Smith Dacey of Halifax to score two and an 8-7 win without employing the hammer.

 Click for full story at the Canadian Curling Association’s website.