Staff
Maybe there’s something to being an early riser and avoiding extra ends.
Northern Ontario rose with the Maritime dawn today, then rose to the occasion to secure its first win at the senior women’s curling championship in Digby, N.S.
With Fort Frances resident Lisa Penner playing third for the Kenora-based team skipped by Peggy Taylor, Northern Ontario (1-2) shrugged off a 9 a.m. start time—and a 5-2 deficit after three ends—to eke out an 8-7 victory over winless Northwest Territories (0-3).
The team also includes second Noreen Donnelly and lead Tracy Stasiuk.
The two-time defending provincial champs, and fifth-place finishers at last year’s senior nationals, lost 6-5 in an extra end to Yukon in their opener yesterday.
Then New Brunswick (1-1) delivered some overtime anguish to Taylor, who again fell 6-5 in a nine-end affair.
Northern Ontario next faces Alberta (2-0) this afternoon.
Taylor then closes out the seeding round tomorrow against Saskatchewan and Quebec.
The teams then will be re-seeded by their records, and play in championship pool and seeding pool games Thursday and Friday.
The semi-finals and finals are set for Saturday.
