THUNDER BAY – It was an afternoon of miscues for the foursome from Northern Ontario.
But one team’s misses are another team’s opportunities, and on Sunday afternoon, Emma Miskew made the most of them -- and didn't live up to her last name.
The 32-year-old Ottawa skip, subbing for Olympian Rachel Homan shooting fourth stones for Wild Card No. 3 at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, took advantage of a subpar shooting day by her opponent’s back end and scored an 8-5 win over hometown favourite Krista McCarville at Fort William Gardens.
McCarville (2-1), who shot just 61 per cent, and third Kendra Lilly, who only managed 66 per cent, got off to a strong start, scoring a pair in the first and holding Miskew to just one in the second.
The Thunder Bay skip’s shooting woes started showing in the third, needing a hit-and-stick to score one and take a 3-1 lead. Instead she spilled too far and the match was tied 2-2.
And end later Miskew clogged up the four-foot with four stones and McCarville had no choice but to attempt to plow as many of them out as possible to minimize the damage. She only managed to move one far enough, giving up a steal of three and trailed 5-2.
“We had a couple of good freezes there early to surround their rock that was in the four-foot. Then we had an opportunity to get another one in there on mine and they swept it to the perfect spot,” Miskew said in the post-match virtual news conference.
“(McCarville) missed her run-back and we hit and rolled in. It was a really hard score. It was just a few precision shots in a row that really put some pressure on and we were fortunate enough to get the steal there.”
McCarville’s struggles were never more evident than in the fifth end.
With skip stones to go, it looked like she might have a shot at a three-ender to tie the game at the break. But Miskew (2-1) made a tough hit and roll behind cover and McCarville, looking to salvage the end and close the gap, chose a draw for two, only to sail deep and picked up just one.
Team Wild Card scored two in the sixth to lead 7-3. McCarville had a shot at two in the seventh, but crashed and once again, settled for a single. She stole another point in the eighth, but surrendered one to Miskew in the ninth before running out of rocks with hammer in the 10th.
Andrea Crawford, skipping the other 2-0 Pool A team on Sunday afternoon, was able to keep her hot hand going, doubling up Nunavut’s Brigitte MacPhail 6-3 to improve to 3-0 in a match she never trailed.
It’s the first time the Fredericton, N.B. native has won her first three matches at a Scotties, this being her 10th appearance.
“Today we did struggle a bit figuring some things out there, but I think we’ve been playing the way we want to play to start the event, so that’s what feels really good for us,” the Team New Brunswick skip said.
Nunavut fell to 0-3.
Saskatchewan’s Penny Barker evened her record at 1-1 with an 8-6 triumph over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Sarah Hill (0-2), scoring three in the eighth to break open a 4-4 match.
“We’re proud of what we’ve done today and we want to continue to keep a strong week going,” Barker said.
In Draw 4 action on Sunday morning, Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (2-0) nipped Yukon’s Hailey Birnie (0-2) by an 8-7 count, Alberta’s Laura Walker (1-1) scored one in the 10th to edge British Columbia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault 9-8, Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson (2-0) doubled up Christine Black’s Nova Scotia squad 6-3 and the Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha (1-1) picked up her first win, beating Ontario’s Hollie Duncan 7-5.
Action continues on Sunday night.
Northern Ontario takes on winless Nunavut on Monday night, their lone match of the day.
