Ontario’s Hollie Duncan advanced to the championship pool at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with an 11-8 win over Newfoundland’s Stacie Curtis in Thursday’s tiebreaker game.
Ontario scored three in the ninth end and a deuce in the 10th. Duncan sealed the win when Curtis was unable to draw her last rock onto the button while trailing 9-8.
Duncan said it was an emotional match.
“It was not my best game,” said Duncan, who’s competing in her first Scotties. “I stringed together just enough to pull it out. My team played really well. I had their support that game which was huge.”
Ontario’s Karen Sagle shot 85 per cent to lead her team while Duncan struggled at 64 per cent. Erica Trickett led Newfoundland with 90 per cent shooting.
The final end looked good for Curtis, who was trying to score a deuce by drawing her rock to the button with the help of a bump. That didn’t happen when the rock didn’t have enough weight.
Duncan said it was good for them thanks to two guards and they knew as long as they were still there they had a chance for a steal.
“The reds were piling up a bit,” Duncan said with a laugh.
‘We get to keep playing and that’s a great feeling’
Ontario had the mentality going into the end for a force or steal depending on how things looked. They ended up going hard for the steal.
“We get to keep playing and that’s a great feeling,” said Duncan, who will play wild-card Kerri Einarson later Thursday.
Einarson finished the first round-robin portion of the tournament with a 6-1 record.
Curtis called it a roller coaster week following her fourth straight loss. Newfoundland will look to win Friday morning’s seeding position game.
Curtis said it wasn’t difficult going through a game of changing scores.
“We are used to back and forth games. They are a great team and I didn’t really expect anything else, maybe a few less points here and there,” said Curtis, of St. John’s. “I expected a back and forth game.”
Curtis was disappointed with the finish.
“We didn’t play well enough to get in and that’s kind of the end of it,” she said.
Newfoundland led 1-0 after the first end, then grabbed a 4-2 lead after the third with a triple. The lead changes continued.
In other afternoon play, B.C.’s Kesa Van Osch (4-3) faces Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones (5-2), Team Canada’s Michelle Englot (5-2) goes up against Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault (5-2) and Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger (6-1) plays Northern Ontario’s Tracy Fleury (5-2).
