Jones sets winning mark with 153rd Scotties victory

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This article was published 24/02/2021 (1855 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JENNIFER Jones became the all-time winningest curler in the history of the Scotties national women’s championship Tuesday.

Her 153rd career victory, a narrow 6-5 decision in the morning draw over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Sarah Hunt at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, moved her past another national curling legend, Nova Scotia skip Colleen Jones, whose last Scotties appearance came in 2013.

Keeping up with the Joneses has never seemed so daunting.

Fellow Manitobans Dawn McEwen, Jill Officer and Cathy Overton-Clapham sit third, fourth and fifth on the all-time wins list with 129, 121 and 110 W’s, respectively.

“It definitely means something to me and as you kind of approach the end of your career, just to be remembered for doing something that you love is pretty remarkable and… my kids do look at it, there’s a book with my name in it with some records and they’re very proud of me…,” said Jones, 46.

“I’m really, really proud to be on the ice with these girls today — I forgot that we were going to set the record today. So it was kinda cool when the sign went up.”

Third Kaitlyn Lawes saluted her teammate.

“I can’t believe this is my 11th year with Jennifer and the girls,” said 32-year-old Lawes, now 16th on the all-time list with 71 wins. “I still feel like I’m the 21-year-old kid when I joined the team that is just so eager to learn from the best and I’ve always looked up to Jen.

“She’s a role model and how special is it to be able to play with people that you’re inspired by? She makes me want to be a better teammate, a better athlete and I’m just so grateful for these 11 years. We’ve become like family.”

The Jones gang improved to 3-2 and sits fourth in its pool. Jones hasn’t scored more than one point in an end since counting four in the ninth end of a 14-5 win over B.C. Sunday afternoon, a span of 20 ends.

“(We’re) still not quite as sharp as we’d like to be but I wouldn’t want to be as sharp as we need to be by the end of the week,” said Jones. “The idea is just to get on a roll and we’re going to need that to be kind of there at the end of the week. So one game at a time but it’s nice to win a close one.”

Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson remained unbeaten in round-robin action after thumping Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers 8-4 in the afternoon.

The Gimli skip improved to 5-0 in Pool A, tied with Ontario’s Rachel Homan, who thrashed Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns, 10-3. Einarson and Homan meet this afternoon.

Staying out of the loss column was critically important to Einarson.

“It’s a good spot to be in definitely,” she said. “You don’t want to lose any games early. You have to carry your losses going forward (to the championship round) so you really don’t want to lose a game.”

Einarson faces Yukon’s Laura Eby in this morning’s draw and Alberta’s Laura Walker in the nightcap.

“There’s definitely going to be some rust,” said Einarson. “I think every team feels that. I’m just getting the feel out there, getting back into your rhythm and your routine. It’s a different year. We’ve actually feel really good now; I feel comfortable getting into my slide and nothing’s hurting yet, so that’s a good thing.”

In an afternoon matchup involving two Manitoba teams, Winnipeg’s Beth Peterson (Wild-card No. 3) defeated Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias (Wild-card No. 2) 5-4.

Peterson is 3-3 in Pool A while Scotties rookie Zacharias fell to 1-4.

In another Pool B morning game, Manitoba’s Fleury team (Wild-card No. 1) skipped by Chelsea Carey lost 7-5 to B.C.’s Corryn Brown.

The Fleury squad followed that up by beating P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt in the evening draw, 10-6. Carey is 4-2 and a tied for top spot with Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges. Birt went to 3-2.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14