Ontario’s Rachel Homan has a long career filled with big shots, but none at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts were bigger than the one she made in the ninth end against Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 5-4 heading into the second last frame of the Page Playoff 3-4 game, Homan would cap the end with one of the best shots of the week: firing big weight, she would hit an angle raise double to score three and take a 7-5 lead into the final end.
That shot was only necessary after Ontario third Emma Miskew made an angle double of her own to lay one with her last shot, and McCarville came down to angle in off a guard, bump two Homan stones and sit full four foot to count two.
“I saw that tap in right at the beginning of the end and was hoping they wouldn’t notice, but they have a great team and Ricky is a great coach, so I knew we would be facing something tough in the end,” Homan said of McCarville’s shot.
McCarville naturally hoped that would be the end-breaker and she’d head home up at least a pair. But when Homan set up for her final shot, the inkling was there that something spectacular could be coming.
“We had quite a few rocks in play that end and I was just trying to get one tucked in there,” McCarville said. “My first one looked good, and when she was going down to call her shot I’m thinking ‘I’m liking how she’s calling it’, then Emma changed her mind and I was like ‘nooo, it’s not good’… if my last one in nine curls a bit more she doesn’t have that.”
Homan was just happy to have given herself a chance heading into the final end as opposed to being down three or more.
“Even then, they’re a great team and they played phenomenal today, they had the upper hand on us the whole game,” said Homan, who took the ice with Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle. “We tried to tee it up for a big end in nine and fortunately it paid off. Fortunately my team was patient with me and we figured out the end.”
The three-time Scotties champion will now advance to face the loser of the Page 1-2 game on Saturday night, either Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson or Wild Card’s Jennifer Jones. That contest goes at 6 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
Homan hopes to keep things rolling as well as they have through the week, especially in light of the toughest possible games ahead.
“We’ve shown we can win a couple of different ways this week and that was a little hard on everyone’s nerves, but it’s great to learn and be able to play another game on Sheet C,” Homan said. “So we’ll keep going forward and keep pressing, we know the next team we play is going to be at the top of their game so we’re going to have to be ready to go.”
McCarville and her rink of third Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala and Jennifer Gates head home with their heads held high after a solid week’s performance
“I think everyone comes in wanting to win it, and we had stages of goals,” McCarville said. “We wanted to make the championship round, which we did, and then the playoff, which we did. And then in the playoff you just want to have a good game, which we did. It’s disappointing, but we’re happy to have had the week we had.”
