Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville claims Tournament of Hearts playoff berth

Feb 21, 2020 | 1:47 PM

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville secured the fourth and final playoff spot at the Canadian women’s curling championship Friday.

McCarville defeated Prince Edward Island 6-5 to join Ontario’s Rachel Homan, Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson and the Jennifer Jones wild-card team bound for Saturday’s Page playoff.

Playoff seedings were still in play heading into the championship round’s finale Friday evening.

Homan and Jones (9-1) and Einarson (8-2) jockeyed for a top-two ranking. McCarville (7-3) will be the fourth seed.

The top two meet Saturday evening with the winner advancing directly to Sunday’s final.

The loser drops to Sunday’s semifinal to face the winner of Saturday afternoon’s playoff between the third and fourth seeds.

In both Page games, the higher seed starts the game with last-rock advantage.

Homan faced Einarson and Jones met McCarville on Friday evening.

The rest of the field fell out of contention with five or more losses.

Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle lost 9-4 to Homan.

Jones defeated Einarson 12-7 in a rematch of the Manitoba women’s final.

The two teams tied in the pre-game draw the button to determine who had hammer to start the game.

Jones claimed hammer on a second try. The six-time Canadian champion promptly scored four with it in the opening end and another quadruple in the third for an 8-2 cushion.

B.C.’s Corryn Brown beat defending champion Chelsea Carey 9-2.

The 16-team field at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts was divided into two pools, with the top four in each carrying their records with them into the championship round.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2020.

The Canadian Press