KENORA, Ont. -- After a disappointing loss to Sudbury's Bella Croisier in the afternoon draw, a game she led 6-2 at one point, Thunder Bay's Krista McCarville bounced back in a big way on Friday night.
The veteran skip led her team to a 9-2 win over Sudbury's Krysta Burns at the Northern Ontario Women's Curling Championship and secured a spot in the 1-2 Page Playoff, finishing round-robin play with a 5-1 record. Burns, who was awarded Northern Ontario's spot at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, dropped to 3-2, and will face Croisier to wrap things up on Saturday morning.
The news wasn't so great for Thunder Bay's Dallas Burgess.
Burgess, saddled with two losses already in the triple knockout format, suffered his third loss of the week in the men's C-side draw, and was eliminated from contention and a possible berth at the Brier, falling 8-1 to Tanner Horgan, the Sudbury skip also facing elimination with one more defeat.
Nicole Westlund-Stewart finally found the win column, in her fifth match, only needing six ends to dispatch Hailey Beaudry's foursome, leaving her opponent winless at 0-5.
Thunder Bay's Jennifer Briscoe kept her playoff hopes alive on Friday night, edging Stratton's Jackie McCormick 7-6, scoring a pair in the 10th to come from behind and improve to 2-3. McCormick dropped to 3-2, tied with Burns in third place. Briscoe finishes her round-robin run on Saturday morning against Westlund-Stewart (1-4), while McCormick takes on Beaudry.
The big match of the morning pits seven-time defending champion Brad Jacobs against Sudbury's Sandy MacEwan. The winner meets Thunder Bay's Trevor Bonot in the 1-2 Page Playoff, while the loser gets one more shot to stay alive in the 3-4 Page Playoff.
