The Canadian Press
Emanuel Sequeira
PENTICTON, B.C.–Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger cruised to a 9-2 win over Quebec’s Emilia Gagne at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Scheidegger jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three ends, then shut the door with a deuce in the eighth end yesterday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
She finished 6-1 atop Pool ‘B’ in round-robin play.
Quebec wound up at 3-4, placing sixth.
“They are a great little young team so we wanted to come out and play really well,” said Scheidegger, a teacher at Palliser Regional Schools in Lethbridge.
“We knew that this game meant a lot to them, as well for standings,” she added.
“We just stayed tough out there and managed to pull out a win.”
Gagne, a natural sciences student at College d’Alma, said it wasn’t their best game but they were happy to play.
“Happy to be on the ice at the Scotties. It was great even though we lost,” she remarked.
Scheidegger admitted when a team gets a big lead, it can be hard to stay mentally focused.
“Everybody was mentally tough and we still made a lot of shots even when we got that little bit of a lead,” she noted.
“We’re excited for the next round,” Scheidegger added. “We really wanted to make sure we had a good win-loss record heading into the championship pool.
“Just having that one loss is huge for us.”
Team Canada’s Michelle Englot led Pool ‘B’ at 5-1. They dropped to 5-2 following a 7-5 loss to Ontario’s Hollie Duncan (4-3) yesterday putting them in second place.
Englot is replacing 2017 champion Rachel Homan at the tournament. Homan is representing Canada at the Winter Olympics in South Korea later this month.
Ontario had to face Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Curtis in a tie-breaker this morning.
B.C.’s Kesa Van Osch (4-3) secured third place in Pool ‘B’ with a 10-7 win over Curtis (4-3).
“It’s awesome. That was our goal coming in,” said Van Osch of Nanaimo.
“Especially with the new format, we really wanted to make it to that second round.”
In action last night, Kerri Einarson led Team Wild Card to a 9-4 victory over Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones to take sole possession of first in Pool ‘A.’
Einarson enters the playoff round with a 6-1 record while Jones fell to 5-2, into a three-way tie for second.
Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault beat Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson 8-3 to nab one of the other playoff spots.
Northern Ontario’s Tracy Fleury edged Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories 7-6 to secure the other playoff berth.
The top four teams from each pool advance to the championship round.
A Page playoff this weekend then will determine the winner.
