CHARLOTTETOWN – Ontario and Saskatchewan are on a collision course at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Rachel Homan’s Ottawa rink got past B.C.’s Kelly Scott 6-5 in Draw 8 action Monday night, while Regina’s Amber Holland downed Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche 7-6.
Ontario and Saskatchewan both sit at 5-0 and will face each other in Draw 10 play Tuesday afternoon.
Quebec and B.C. fell to 2-3.
In other Draw 8 action Monday, Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones (3-2) dropped her second match of the tournament, falling 8-6 to P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt (2-3). Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink improved to 3-2 with a 8-5 triumph over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Devereaux (1-4).
In afternoon play, Homan jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in beating Birt 8-2, while Holland downed Kleibrink’s foursome 8-6.
Jones rebounded from her first loss on Sunday with a 9-3 victory over Andrea Kelly of New Brunswick.
“The ice was better today,” Jones said after beating Kelly. “I think (icemaker) B.J. (Gagnon) got it right today. It’s hot and humid outside so he had to cool down the building. You just want it to be as good as a surface as it can be under the conditions.”
Jones is looking for her fourth straight Scotties title, which would tie her with record-holder Colleen Jones.
In other afternoon games, Heather Smith-Dacey of Nova Scotia downed B.C. 12-6, while Quebec edged Manitoba’s Cathy Overton-Clapham 7-6.
“We’re starting to execute back-to-back shots and that’s more like us,” said Smith-Dacey. “We have two players new to the Scotties and, for me, I’m five weeks into my new role (as skip, replacing Colleen Jones) so it was going to take a bit of time to get going.
“We know what we have so it doesn’t surprise me we played as well as we did. We played solid two games now.”
Kerry Galusha of the Yukon/Northwest Territories earned her first victory of the tournament, beating Newfoundland and Labrador 6-5.
Nova Scotia sits at 3-2, New Brunswick is at 2-3, while Yukon/Northwest Territories and Manitoba are 1-4.
