Jones splits games on second day at Scotties

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This article was published 19/02/2012 (5178 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RED DEER — Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones went down to defeat this afternoon here at the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, falling 8-6 to Heather Nedohin of Alberta.

The loss was the first for Jones and drops her overall record to 2-1. Manitoba won earlier this morning — 10-7 over Prince Edward Island — and is now idle until Monday afternoon when they next take on Newfoundland’s Heather Strong (0-3).

Leading Alberta 1-0 in the third end, Jones attempted to out-draw two buried Alberta counters with her final stone of the end, but her draw slid too far and Nedohin played a tap for what proved to be a decisive three-ender.

It was the type of touch-shot upon which Jones has made a career, but it proved to be a costly miss on this occasion — and one that could even have been a worse had a measure for a fourth point not gone Manitoba’s way.

“We didn’t really have a shot there. I didn’t have a hit,” said Jones. “The end just didn’t work out the way we wanted. We were pretty happy only to give up a three. We just couldn’t get anything going (after that). But all in all, we’re pretty happy with being 2-1 and we’ll just have to pick it up tomorrow.”

Jones battled back with a deuce of her own in the seventh end that made the score 5-4, but Nedohin got the deuce right back the very next end on a measure.

Trailing 7-6 in the tenth end without the hammer, Jones attempted with her last rock a gentle tap and roll to the button that would have set her up for a game-tying deuce, but the rock didn’t curl enough and the teams shook hands without Nedohin having to throw her last rock.

Jones lead Dawn Askin said she likes what she’s seeing in her skip right now. “Jen’s in her zone right now, I think,” said Askin. “There’s been some things here and there, but overall I think we’re playing well.”

In other games on the afternoon draw, Ontario’s Tracy Horgan improved to 2-0 with a 10-3 shellacking of a struggling Nova Scotia (0-3); BC’s Kelly Scott (2-0) had an open hit for a game-winning deuce in a 9-8 victory over Saskatchewan’s Michelle Englot (2-1); and Team Canada’s Amber Holland improved to 2-0 with a 6-5 win over New Brunswick’s Rebecca Atkinson (1-2).

Earlier today, Jones survived a scare to defeat PEI’s Kim Dolan 10-7 and improve to 2-0.

Trailing PEI 5-2, Jones was light on a draw attempt with her final rock of the fourth end but still scored a game-tying three-ender after a poorly-played end by PEI.

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Dolan had put her team ahead with a three-ender of her own the previous end, making an open double-takeout of two Jones counters on the four-foot to give her team the short-lived lead.

Manitoba stole the fifth end to go ahead 6-5 when Dolan was unable to draw a piece of the button with her final stone. Manitoba never trailed again.

With Sunday’s split of their two games, Jones appears nicely positioned heading into the week. Canada, BC and Ontario remain undefeated at 2-0 heading into Sunday night’s draw, followed by Manitoba, Saskatchewan and NWT/Yukon’s Kerry Galusha, who are all 2-1.

“That was kind of our goal,” said Jones, “to be 2-1 at the end of the day. We’re pretty happy with that. It would have been nice to have been a little bit sharper (against Alberta), but we’ll be tough tomorrow.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca