Top seeds right their ships with Day 2 victories at Scotties in Killarney

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This article was published 11/01/2018 (3150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KILLARNEY — After a slew of opening-day upsets, the top teams came out swinging on Day 2 of the 2018 Manitoba women’s curling championship.

Jennifer Jones, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur all won their Thursday-morning matches to rise to 2-1 on the week. So did Joelle Brown, the seasoned Charleswood Curling Club skip, who had toppled Jones on Wednesday.

Jones stumbled against Burntwood’s Jennifer Briscoe, giving up a sixth-end steal of three, but that was just payback for the three she’d stolen from Briscoe in the second end. Other than that, she rolled to an 11-6 win.

Elsewhere in the morning, Meilleur handled Dauphin’s Lisa Hale-Menard 9-2 in six ends; fourth-seed Birchard dispatched Carberry’s Alyssa Calvert 9-3 and Spencer beat promising Altona skip Mackenzie Zacharias 7-5.

Over in the other round-robin pool, the playoff favourites similarly cruised through: 2016 Manitoba champ Kerri Einarson, 2017 finalist and perennial contender Darcy Robertson and veteran Barb Spencer all rose to 3-0.

There were some lopsided scores in the first couple of draws. Robertson called an 8-1 win over Brandon’s Cheryl Reed, and Einarson made quick work of 21-year-old Rebecca Lamb — the teams shook at 10-1 after just five ends.

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Lamb, making her first women’s provincials appearance, was surprised by her opening-day success, beating Clark-Rouire in a tenacious performance. But she could not generate much against Einarson Thursday afternoon.

Rounding out that group, Miami’s Jennifer Clark-Rouire — a regular Team Jones fifth — also snagged a win, going 8-3 over Brandon’s Tiffany McLean. That improved Clark-Rouire’s record to 2-1 on the week; McLean slipped to 0-3.

There are two more draws slated Thursday. The pool that includes Jones, Birchard and Meilleur are on the ice again at 4 p.m., while the round-robin pool led by Einarson and Robertson play the evening draw at 7:30.

The 2018 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues through the weekend, with playoffs set to start Saturday night. The 8:30 a.m. semifinal and 2:30 p.m. final on Sunday will be broadcast live on Sportsnet.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large

Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Every piece of reporting Melissa produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.