THUNDER BAY – Team Northern Ontario has found their game again.
And now the team skipped by Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville is a win away from a playoff berth at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
McCarville, lead Sarah Potts, second Ashley Sippala and third Kendra Lilly played aggressively on Wednesday night, holding Penny Barker’s Saskatchewan foursome off the scoreboard for eight ends, while picking up steals in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth ends, en route to a 6-2 win that puts them on the brink of advancing.
It was their second win of the day, having earlier dispatched New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford, who nevertheless was the first team to clinch a playoff berth, doubling up Sarah Hill’s Newfoundland and Labrador rink 10-5 in Draw 15 play at Fort William Gardens.
“It feels really good to have a day like that. We knew yesterday coming off the loss we had to pick up our game. We just came into today feeling good, and after our win this morning, it definitely builds confidence. Just playing a really good game tonight also builds more confidence going into tomorrow,” McCarville said.
Speaking of confidence, Wednesday’s contests provided a whole heap of it for Lilly, who would be the first to admit she needed to pick up her game if Northern Ontario is to move on.
Lilly curled at 95 per cent against Barker, whose team also includes Thunder Bay native Jenna Enge, a vast improvement over Tuesday night’s game, when she came in at 58 per cent, or the 61 per cent she put up in a squeaker over Nunavut the night before.
“I think it couldn’t come at a better time. I wish it was a little bit earlier on in the week, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers,” the Sudbury native said.
“I know I just wanted to go back. I kind of lost my confidence for a bit. We just wanted to get back to throwing how we know that we can throw because we hadn’t been showing the Team McCarville we usually are.”
Forced to one in the first, Barker took hammer and was content to blank the next two ends.
McCarville was having none of it in the fourth and forced her opponent to a high-side angle raise. Instead she flashed and gave up a steal of one.
It was a story that played out again and again all night long.
Barker (4-3) played a tap on her own guard to try to score in the fifth, but couldn’t execute and McCarville stole two more, taking a 4-0 lead to the break. The Saskatchewan skip had a hit and roll for a single in the sixth, but spilled, leading to another Northern Ontario point, and had a similar shot in the eighth, but with the same result.
Down 6-0 in the ninth, Barker finally broke the goose egg, but McCarville didn’t even have to throw her rocks in 10, Lilly running Saskatchewan out of stones.
Barker will take on Emma Miskew’s wild card team on Thursday, needing a win for a shot at a tiebreaker with McCarville. Miskew was eliminated with an 8-7 loss to wild card Chelsea Carey. The third wild card team, Tracy Fleury (6-1) clinched a playoff spot with an 8-2 win over Brigitte MacPhail and Nunavut, though Fleury remains sidelined by COVID-19.
It’s the first playoff berth for Crawford in 10 Scotties appearance.
“We’re going to celebrate this win tonight and then it’s back to business,” the Fredericton, N.B. native said. “We obviously want to keep winning. Tomorrow’s another big game and it means first place in our pool.”
