NIPIGON – A rough start was too much to recover from Thursday night for Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville rink.
Trailing 4-1 in the fifth end to 2015 champion Tracy Fleury, McCarville (2-1) surrendered a steal of three, fell behind 7-1 and went on to lose 10-7 to her Sudbury opponent in a battle of the two remaining undefeated teams at the Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
McCaville and teammates Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts and Kendra Lilly would add a pair in the fifth to cut the deficit to four, then after giving up one in the seventh, put four more on the board in the eighth to make it 8-7.
But with the hammer Fleury (3-0) added a pair in the eighth to put the match away.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday morning in the finale of the double round robin format at the Nipigon Curling Club.
The top two teams in the round robin advance to the final.
In the other Draw 3 match, Lakehead University’s Hailey Beaudry picked up her first win of the competition, stealing a pair in the 10th end to edge Thunder Bay’s Larissa Mikkelson 8-7. Beaudry improved to 1-2, while Mikkelson remains winless at 0-3.
Beaudry on Friday takes on Fleury, while Mikkelson will look to improve on a 9-2 loss to McCarville in Wednesday night’s opening draw.
