SYDNEY, N.S. -- Krista McCarville and company are playoff-bound at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The Thunder Bay-based Northern Ontario team booked their spot in the final four of the Canadian women's curling playdowns with a 7-6 win over Prince Edward Island, closing with an 8-3 record through the two group stages to finish fourth in the championship pool.
McCarville scored a go-ahead deuce to break a ninth-end tie with a draw to the four-foot that the skip navigated through a crowd of guards.
Down to PEI's Suzanne Birt foursome 4-1 through four ends, Northern Ontario responded with a pair in the fifth and a steal of two in the sixth to grab momentum.
The playoff spot wasn't clinched until after the victory, when Casey Scheidegger's Team Wild Card was unable to force a tiebreaker after falling in extra ends to Alberta.
McCarville's crew, which includes third Kendra Lilly, second Jen Gates and lead Sarah Potts, had earlier scored an 8-6 victory over Jennifer Jones' Team Canada squad. Jones, with her final stone, had an open draw that needed to end up anywhere in the house to force an extra end but the six-time Scotties champion came up shy of the rings to fall short.
It was the first time that Jones failed to qualify for the playoffs in her 14 trips to the Tournament of Hearts.
The 3 vs. 4 page playoff will be a Battle of Ontario, as Northern Ontario will meet Rachel Homan's Team Ontario on Saturday. Homan, a three-time Scotties champion, downed McCarville 6-4 in the opening draw last weekend.
This marks McCarville's fourth career appearance in the Scotties final four. The 36-year-old claimed silver in 2016 after being edged in the final by Chelsea Carey's Alberta rink, earned bronze in 2010 and finished fourth in 2017.
Saskatchewan will take on Alberta in the 1 vs. 2 playoff affair.
