Krista McCarville has clinched at least a tiebreaker berth at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
McCarville, out of the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay, stole four points in the sixth end to blow open a tight-knit game against last place Nancy McConnery of Nova Scotia, the 7-3 win halting a two-game losing streak dead in its tracks.
The victory improved McCarville’s record to 7-3, with only a Thursday night date with defending champion Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones left on her round-robin schedule.
A win in that match would guarantee McCarville her first Scotties playoff berth in four attempts.
She can still get in with a loss, but would need British Columbia to lose one of its remaining matches to avoid a tiebreaker.
Saskatchewan skip Amber Holland (5-5), is still in contention for a tiebreaker, but lost 9-5 to the upset-minded Sharon Cormier and the Northwest Territories (4-6) in the morning draw, and with a fifth loss is no longer a concern for Ontario.
McCarville, who lost to both Manitoba and the Northwest Territories on Wednesday, opened with the hammer and was forced by McConnery to take a point, and a tough one at that, needing a double takeout to avoid a Nova Scotia steal.
The Nova Scotia skip found her self in trouble of her own in the second and had to make a tight draw to earn the single, facing multiple Ontario stones in the house. The situation reversed itself in the third, but McCarville was up to the task facing a Nova Scotia rock buried at the back of the four-foot.
McCarville nailed the shot to go up 2-1 and then the scoring stopped. With the hammer McConnery was content to blank the next two ends, but the run of luck ended in the sixth.
Facing three Ontario rocks, Nova Scotia (1-9) did get one back in the seventh, but was too far back to mount a comeback. The two teams shook hands after the ninth end, when McConnery could only manage a single point.
Elswhere, on Sheet B, Kathy O’Rourke’s Prince Edward Island rink (8-2) continued its amazing run, holding onto top spot at the Scotties with a 9-4 win over Newfoundland. And Quebec’s Eve Belisle kept her playoff dreams alive, edging New Brunswick 6-5 to improve to 5-5. New Brunswick was eliminated from the playoffs with the loss. The top four teams will advance.
