Darcy Robertson stunned seven-time provincial champ Jennifer Jones 8-6 in Sunday’s semifinal at the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Winnipeg.
It’s the first time Jones has competed in the Manitoba Scotties and not won the provincial championship since 2004.
Robertson, a three-time provincial victor, will play Michelle Englot for the title and an opportunity to represent Manitoba at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts next month in St. Catharines, Ont.
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Jones struggled from the start opening with the hammer and giving up a pair when her last rock rolled too deep. The 2014 Olympic gold medallist sat shot stone in the second and settled for just the single as she couldn’t get the right angle on the raise to knock out Robertson’s rock to score more.
Team Jones fell into trouble in the third end and Robertson looked to capitalize and score three, but her final shot hit and rolled out for just two and a 4-1 lead. Jones bounced back cutting into the lead with a brilliant run double followed by a draw for a deuce on her skip stones in the fourth end.
Robertson was forced to draw for a single in the fifth while facing three counters. Jones was short an inch with her draw in the sixth to give up a steal as Robertson regained the three-point advantage to go up 6-3.
Jones looked to be back in control erasing the deficit with a deuce in seven and a steal of one in eight when Robertson was light with her draw and the sweepers kicked it off early.
But the woes continued for Jones as she hogged a rock in the ninth to open the door for Robertson to set the table and make a wide-open hit to score a couple and pull back ahead by two. It was handshakes in the 10th as Jones fell short of the house on her first skip stone with no chance to tie the game.
Jones was on a roll to start the tournament, posting a 7-0 record in round-robin play, until falling to Englot 9-5 in Saturday’s 1 vs. 1 page playoff match.
The Regina native Englot captured seven Saskatchewan titles before joining Winnipeg’s Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson-Westcott and Raunora Westcott this season. The trio, along with skip Kristy McDonald, fell to Kerri Einarson’s team in last year’s provincial championship game.
Robertson clipped Shannon Birchard 7-6 in the 2 vs. 2 page playoff game.