McCarville runs record to 3-0 at Northern Ontario Scotties, edges favourite Fleury

TIMMINS -- Krista McCarville is back, there’s no doubt about it.

The 33-year-old Thunder Bay skip passed her biggest test on Thursday night, knocking off defending champion Tracy Horgan in a 7-6 thriller that went the distance in Draw 3 of the Northern Ontario Scotties in Timmins, Ont.

McCarville ran her record to a perfect 3-0 at the provincial women’s curling championship, which will decide the region’s representative at next month’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Grand Prairie, Alta.

It was a back-and-forth affair not decided until the 10th end.

Fleury (2-1) opened with one in the first with the hammer, only to have McCarville take the lead in the second end with a pair.

Fleury, whose second is Thunder Bay’s Jenna Walsh, struck back with three in the fourth to go up 4-2, but one end later the game was knotted at four apiece.

McCarville’s opponent, who calls Sudbury home, took her final lead in the sixth with a single, but after the two sides blanked the seventh and eighth, McCarville scored three of her own in the ninth to go up two heading home.

The Thunder Bay rink, which includes lead Sarah Potts, second Ashley Sippala and third Kendra Lilly, will take on Laura Payne for the second time in Friday’s afternoon fourth draw. McCarville beat Payne 9-2 on Wednesday night to open the double round robin event.

North Bay’s Payne crushed Timmins’ own Gale Wiseman 12-5 on Thursday night to improve to 1-2.

The top two teams after round-robin play will meet in Sunday morning’s final.