Silvernagle and her North Battleford rink of third Stefanie Lawton, second Jessie Hunkin and lead Kara Thevenot went undefeated through the Viterra Scotties provincial women’s curling championship in Melville this past week to earn their second-straight provincial title.
More importantly, they’ll now represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw from Feb. 14-23.
Interestingly enough, their opponent in the final, Saskatoon’s Sherry Anderson, represented the province at the Scotties the last time it was held in Moose Jaw in 2015.
The veteran rink wouldn’t have such luck this time around, as after blanking the first end, Silvernagle scored one in the second and followed a deuce by Anderson with three in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead.
Silvernagle led 4-3 through six ends when she scored one in the seventh and stole another in eight to take a 6-3 lead. Anderson would get two of those back in the ninth, but Silvernagle played a perfect 10th to pick up a deuce and the 8-5 win.
Silvernagle came into the event as the top-ranked Saskatchewan team in the Canadian Team Ranking System standings and lived up to the ranking with three-straight wins through the ‘A’ side, including an 8-2 victory over Regina’s Shalon Fleming – who included Moose Jaw Candace Newkirk at third – before downing Moose Jaw’s Penny Barker 7-5 in the semifinal and taking a 7-6 win over Regina’s Michelle Englot in the ‘A’ qualifier.
The win gave Silvernagle almost two full days off before the Page Playoffs, where she took a 7-6 win over Saskatoon’s Ashley Howard in the 1-2 Page game to advance directly to the final.
Barker and her Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre rink of third Deanna Doig, second Christie Gamble and lead Danielle Sicinski ended up qualifying through the ‘C’ side with a 9-2 win over Regina’s Rae Williamson but had no luck in their first round playoff game against Anderson.
Anderson scored two in the first end and after holding Barker to one in the second, put up three in the third and followed with another three the following frame for an 8-1 lead through four. That made things all but academic, and Anderson would go on to a 10-2 win in seven ends.
Silvernagle will look for two more wins than she had in 2019 at the national Scotties, where she reached the semifinal before falling 9-7 to Ontario’s Rachel Homan.
Saskatchewan plays their first game during the opening draw at Mosaic Place on Saturday, Feb. 15.
