Crawford and her rink of third Jennifer Armstrong, second Jillian Babin and lead Katie Forward scored a Scotties record seven points in the seventh end against Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson on their way to a 13-7 victory.
The massive end overshadowed the final result, with the win giving Crawford hope for a championship pool spot while knocking Einarson from the ranks of the undefeated in Pool A.
“We definitely didn’t see it coming until the end,” Crawford said to a packed postgame media scrum. “We didn’t even really see it until my last shot and we counted everything up when it was done. I knew I was throwing for a lot but I didn’t know it was seven.”
Crawford had a hit-and-stick for the big score and made it perfectly.
“I had to settle myself down for sure, it was a big shot and we wanted to score as much as we could to go ahead as much as we could,” Crawford said. “I definitely had some nerves there.”
Even Einarson couldn’t supress a smile when talking about it.
“We made a few too many errors in that end and they made some good ones and were rewarded for it,” she said. “They played a great game and deserved the win, we just weren’t as sharp this afternoon, but we’re in a good position and we’ll come out and have a better game tonight.”
The win improved Crawford to 2-3 and fifth place in Pool A, and based on past Scotties, that means she’ll need a pair of wins in her last two games and some help to have a shot at the championship pool.
Einarson, meanwhile, is now 4-1 and tied for first in the pool with Ontario (see below), meaning she is all but guaranteed a championship pool spot.
Both teams were right back out on the ice for the evening draw Tuesday, with New Brunswick taking on Quebec and Manitoba facing Saskatchewan (see below) in a showdown for first place heading into Wednesday’s play.
If people think the crowds have been supportive of Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle so far in the tournament, they ain’t seen nothing yet if things keep going the way they have.
Silvernagle and her North Battleford rink of third Stefanie Lawton, second Jessie Hunkin and lead Kara Thevenot improved to 4-1 and moved into a tie with Ontario for first place in Pool A after taking a 5-3 win over Quebec’s Noemie Verreault.
And they did it olden-style, throwing out five blank ends – including three straight to open the game – before finally taking control of the contest with three in the fourth.
“We’ll play whatever game comes our way here and just keep working at it,” Lawton said. “We’ll play any kind of game, but we try and dictate what’s going to happen out there. Just the opportunities weren’t there and we waited for the opportunity when it came.”
With the way Silvernagle was throwing, the second a door opened something was going to happen – she ended up curling a stellar 95 per cent on the afternoon, and her rink hit 85 per cent.
“I think we’re happy with where we’re sitting, we have two more really tough games ahead of us and we’re not letting off the gas,” Silvernagle said.
Verreault didn’t make it easy, though, with her deuce in the fifth keeping the pressure on. Quebec – including third Alanna Routledge, second Marie-Pier Cote and lead Jill Routledge -- was nearly Saskatchewan’s shotmaking equal on the day, too, hitting 84 per cent.
“This one wasn’t going to be a gimme that’s for sure,” Silvernagle said. “We knew we had to play well because we saw how they had been playing other teams and we knew they were right in the games so we knew we had to come out and play well today.”
Quebec fell to 0-5 with the loss.
For Ontario’s Rachel Homan, it was another comfortable Scotties win in the afternoon draw, even if things were close in the early going against Nova Scotia’s Marie-Anne Arsenault.
Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle found themselves in a 5-5 tie through five ends, but would score two in the sixth and steal two in seven to go ahead 9-5. Arsenault would get two of those back in eight, but after a Homan single in nine would run out of rocks in the final end.
“Every game we’re out there, we’re getting a handle on how to throw rocks to make the shots, so we’re learning every game and getting better,” Miskew said.
“We’re feeling draw weight and making a lot of those, so that’s a sign we’re going to make some shots out there… you can throw the rock a few different ways and still make the same shot, so we’re just learning how we have to make them for our team to make the shot.”
Arsenault, third Christina Black, second Jenn Baxter and lead Emma Logan fell to 3-2 with the loss and sit in a three-way tie for third in Pool B.
Ontario was back on the ice in the evening against Northwest Territories (2-3), Nova Scotia took on Wild Card.
Jennifer Jones and her Wild Card squad finally had a ‘normal’ game at the Scotties.
After finding themselves in close barnburners through most of their earlier contests, Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Dawn McEwen rolled to an 11-3 win over Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha.
“Apparently we’ve been taking the Wild Card name to heart, some of our games have been pretty wild,” Lawes said. “So we were really focussed on getting more of our shots on line.”
Jones built a 4-1 lead through four ends, led 6-2 through six and finished things off with a five-spot in the ninth.
The win gave Wild Card a 4-1 record and a share of first in Pool B heading into the evening draw. As well as things have been going, Jones and crew still see room for improvement, even hitting the ice for practice after night draws.
“We’re really happy with how we’re throwing the rock right now and we’re just trying to figure out the speed out a little better,” Lawes said. “Little things that will help us in the big games coming up.”
Galusha, fourth Jo-Ann Rizzo, third Sarah Koltun and lead Shona Barbour fell to 2-3 and sit six in Pool B.
