TORONTO – Krista McCarville and her teammates don’t play a lot of Grand Slam of Curling events, but when they do, they usually show they belong.
On Thursday the Northern Ontario rink, coming off a second-place finish at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, routed Team Jennifer Jones 8-2 in a B-qualifier event at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, improving to 2-1 at the prestigious international event.
They’ll next take on Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, the Olympic silver medallists, on Friday.
Fujisawa downed Alberta’s Laura Walker 8-5 in their B-qualifier on Thursday afternoon.
On the line is an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, with the loser dropping to the C-side in the triple-knockout format.
McCarville, whose team includes lead Sarah Potts, second Ashley Sippala and third Kendra Lilly, put up three in the fifth end and stole two more in the sixth to put the match away, the two teams shaking hands after the sixth.
Jones dropped to the C-side and will take on Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg, the former Olympic champion and reigning Olympic bronze medallist in a do-or-die game for both teams.
