Long, uphill climb ahead for Overton-Clapham at Scotties

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This article was published 20/02/2011 (5643 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHARLOTTETOWN — Cathy Overton-Clapham overcame huge odds just to get here.

And after a disastrous opening weekend at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, she’ll have to overcome odds almost as long to stay here.

Overton-Clapham and her Manitoba foursome lost three of the four games they played here on opening weekend — including both of Sunday’s contests — and will now almost certainly need to win at least six of their final seven round-robin games to have any chance of seeing the weekend playoffs.

That would be a tall order at the best of times, but it is an extraordinary task to ask of a 1-3 skip who appears to have lost her sense of draw weight and comes into Monday off a 9-3 blowout loss to New Brunswick Sunday night in which she shot an appalling 48 per cent.

What was once a fairy-tale of an exiled skip seeking redemption on the national stage is rapidly turning into a nightmare for a five-time Canadian champion unaccustomed to being blown out by the likes of such curling lightweights as New Brunswick.

“It wasn’t a very good day. We didn’t play very well,” Overton-Clapham said Sunday night. “We didn’t get our rocks in the right place and they did. That’s how you get killed out there.

“It’s not fun. You’re struggling, you’re not getting your rocks in the right spots, you’re not getting any breaks — and that’s not helping. It’s just tough.”

Manitoba trailed New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly from the second end and the game was effectively over in the fifth end when Overton-Clapham came up light on a very difficult draw and handed New Brunswick a steal of two and a 7-2 lead heading into the break.

The loss came after a much more competitive, but just as devastating, 6-4 loss earlier Sunday to B.C.’s Kelly Scott. Manitoba controlled that game and the scoreboard until the ninth end when a series of poor decisions had Overton-Clapham needing to execute a difficult tapback with the last rock of the end against three B.C. counters.

Overton-Clapham’s attempt wasn’t even close and the steal of three proved decisive.

Manitoba second Leslie Wilson described a team that does not have the same spark here that they had in winning the Manitoba womens championship in Altona last month.

“We had more fire at the provincials,” said Wilson. “So we just have to step back and come back with that fire (today). We have one game (today). And that’s good for us, I think. We can get a good rest and then come back hard against Quebec.”

Manitoba’s lone game Monday is against Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche (1-2).

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, meanwhile, has issues of her own here on Monday after her Team Canada split their two games on Sunday.

Jones drilled NWT’s Kerry Galusha 12-1 on the morning draw but then got thumped herself Sunday afternoon, falling 9-3 to Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland in a lopsided loss that raised some eyebrows.

With the loss, Jones’s defending champion Team Canada foursome head into today with a 2-1 record and some question marks.

“It wasn’t our game,” Jones said after the Saskatchewan loss. “But that’s going to happen. I think it’s happened to us every year we’re at this event. So that’s OK.”

It didn’t look OK. In the third end, Jones looked to have a steal set up when her last rock attempt at a guard slid into the four-foot instead, tailoring a perfect double takeout for a deuce for Holland.

And then the very next end, Jones came up short and gave Holland a steal of two more to make the score 5-1 at that point.

“We struggled with the ice, we struggled with draw weight, we struggled where to put the broom,” said Jones, “it was just not our game.”

It was the exact opposite story for Saskatchewan, who shot a blistering 89 percent as a team and were led by Holland, who threw 94 per cent.

“You don’t expect to have a game where it’s a little lop-sided against Jennifer,” Holland said. “But it was. And we’ll take it.”

Jones is no stranger to adversity in this event — she had to win seven straight games in 2008 to capture the Canadian title — and was philosophical about the loss to Saskatchewan.

“A loss never fazes us, ever. It helps out — it gives you a kick in the butt. It gets you to focus again. And you’re not going to go through undefeated. You just have to pick the right time to lose and this hopefully won’t kill us.

“The key is not to have back-to-back losses. And if you can do that, you should have a pretty good shot…Honestly, I will sleep well tonight. It’s not going to faze us at all.”

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Saskatchewan improved to 2-0 with the victory over Canada and then added a 10-6 win over P.E.I. Sunday night to head into Monday tied for first place with Ontario’s Rachel Homan at 3-0.

Jones, Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink and BC are in a three-way tie for third place at 2-1, followed by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at 2-2.

Jones plays twice on Monday, taking on New Brunswick Monday afternoon and then P.E.I. Monday night.

Overton-Clapham joked that she might replace herself on Monday with Manitoba fifth player Breanne Meakin.

Meakin, the reigning Manitoba junior champion, played the first two ends against New Brunswick at lead and shot 88 per cent before regular lead Raunora Westcott was reinserted.