McCarville-ous

It wasn’t quite a miracle shot that Krista McCarville made to score two in the tenth and secure yet another victory over B.C.’s Kelly Scott, but it should at least get her consideration for sainthood in the curling world.

Trailing 6-5 after giving up a steal in nine, McCarville had to find a way to remove Scott’s final stone, hugging the front of the four-foot in shot rock position, not jam on one of the two red stones in the back of the four-foot, and gain enough momentum to stick her shooter and not dislodge her own stone sitting second to score two.

Oh, and there was a long guard just beyond the hog line just daring the Thunder Bay skip to sail around it on its way to the house.

A tall order for most curlers, McCarville discussed the shot at length, calling her second timeout of the match and brought in coach Rick Lang to talk things over.
Then she calmly returned to the hack, let loose her stone and trusted her sweepers to get the job done.

They did.

McCarville scored her deuce and earned a 7-6 win over Scott, the former world champion who she also beat at the Road to the Roar in Kelowna and at the Roar of the Rings in Edmonton, en route to a third-place finish at the Canadian Olympic women’s curling qualifier.

The win earned McCarville, lead Kari MacLean, second Ashley Miharija and third Tara George  a split on the day and boosted their record to 4-1, tied atop the Scotties standings with Prince Edward Island’s surprising Kathy O’Rourke.

Jennifer Jones, a pre-tournament favourite, slipped to 3-2 with her second loss of the day, an 8-4 defeat at the hands of Shelley Nichols’s Newfoundland rink. Earlier in the day Jones (3-2) lost 10-4 to Sharon Cormier’s team from the Territories.

Jones joins a host of other teams, four to be exact, tied for third at 3-2. The grouping includes Quebec, Alberta, B.C. and Manitoba.

McCarville’s win was a more a matter of surviving a brilliant game executed by Scott, whose teammates, particularly third Jeanna Schraeder, were not having their best day on the ice.

The two teams traded points in the first two ends, but McCarville picked up a pair in the third to go up 3-1, and was up 4-2 and looking to steal when Scott made a tough draw in the sixth to pull to within one. Scott then got a little lucky when McCarville’s final stone of the seventh hit and stuck at the front of the house, nullifying her attempt to blank the end and set up a multiple-point end in the eighth.

Scott got her deuce in the eighth when McCarville twice failed to remove shot stone, and stole one in the ninth, forcing McCarville with a near impossible angle raise off her own rock that just missed, giving Scott a 6-5 lead.

In other action Monday night, Quebec’s Eve Belisle scored five in the seventh to finish off Alberta’s Valerie Sweeting 9-1 and Manitoba’s Jill Thurston survived a wild comeback attempt from Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland (2-3), who stole a point in the ninth and two in the 10th to send it to and extra end. However Thurston put an end to the steals in the 11th, scoring a pair for the 9-7 win.

Team Ontario, based out of the Fort William Curling Club, takes on Newfoundland (2-3) in Tuesday’s afternoon draw and Prince Edward Island, in what could be a battle for first place, in the evening match.