Jones improves to 5-2 at Scotties

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This article was published 02/02/2010 (5966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont — There was nothing sweet about today’s play for Team Alberta at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Valerie Sweeting’s rookie foursome from Edmonton got schooled by both Winnipeg teams at the national women’s curling championship, opening with a 9-7 loss to Jennifer Jones’ Team Canada crew in the morning draw and then losing 7-4 to Jill Thurston of Manitoba in the afternoon.

Jones also defeated Kelly Scott of British Columbia today, improving to 5-2 in round-robin play. Scott had earlier defeated Thurston 7-5. Manitoba is 4-3 through 10 draws at the Essar Centre.

It was a reversal of fortunes for Team Canada, which looked dreadful Monday, losing twice.

"I have no idea (what the difference was)," said third Cathy Overton-Clapham. "If we knew we would have done that yesterday. We weren’t pleased with yesterday’s results, so we wanted to come out and play well today."

Sweeting, meanwhile, has lost three start since a red-hot start and has dropped to 3-4

"(Manitoba) played really well and we struggled, and that’s never a good combination," said Sweeting, who surrendered a big steal of two in the sixth end to Thurston and then gave up consecutive steals of one in the seventh and eight ends.

"Manitoba played lights out and they just never let us back in the game."

Ontario’s Krista McCarville beat Newfoundland-Labrador 8-5 this afternoon to up her record to 5-1, the same first-place mark as Kathy O’Rourke of Prince Edward Island.

Ontario and P.E.I. collide in tonight’s feature matchup on TSN, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Manitoba time.

Thurston, who rolled out on a hit this morning to give B.C.’s Scott the win, said she was pleased with the way her team responded in the afternoon against Sweeting.

"We just had a discussion at lunch that and decided we played really well against Kelly, but what can you do. That happens. I just didn’t finish it off," she explained. "But we played well this afternoon, we put a lot of pressure on them and came up with a win."

Thurston said she is not unhappy with the team’s record.

"…4-3 is pretty good, I think. Everybody is kind of bunched up in the middle there. There’s a couple of teams that might run away with something, but we play our cards right and we win a few more we might get into a tie-breaker at least."

Four teams make the Page playoff system, which begins Friday. The championship game goes Sunday at 1:30 p.m., with the winning team qualifying for the Ford world championship in Swift Current, Sask., March 20-28.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Team Canada improved to 4-2 at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s curling championship here this morning.

Jennifer Jones and her two-time defending championship team from Winnipeg beat Alberta’s Valerie Sweeting 9-7.

Alberta fell to 3-3.

Meanwhile, Manitoba’s Jill Thurston hit and rolled out in the 10th end, handing British Columbia’s Kelly Scott a 7-5 triumph.

Thurston is 3-3, while Scott, a former Winnipegger, is 4-2.

Continuing its winning ways is the team from Prince Edward Island. Kathy O’Rourke’s foursome beat Nancy McConnery of Nova Scotia 7-4 and upped its record to 5-1 to lead the 12-team field at the 2010 Scotties.

Ontario is 4-1 and plays a pair of games today.

This afternoon, Thurston plays Alberta, while Jones meets B.C.

Team Canada led Alberta 5-2 early in the game but allowed Sweeting back in. Facing two in the sixth end, Jones tossed a draw through the house to give up a steal of two.

Canada also allowed a steal in the ninth end.

"There were still a few uncharacteristic misses out there but hopefully we’ll improve. We pulled through in the end, which was nice."