It was an all Prince George affair Saturday to determine which team would advance to the B.C. high school senior girls curling championship.
In the end, the College Heights Cougars defeated the Kelly Road Roadrunners 8-3 Saturday night in the final of the north central zone playdowns at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
Skipped by Bailey Eberherr, who throws third stones, the Cougars crew includes Alyssa Connell (fourth stones), second Erin Ross and lead Sadie Brummond. Brooke Eberherr is the team's fifth player.
The Roadrunners are comprised of skip Diamond Wilson, third Jennilee Slaney, second Julianne Slaney and lead Paige Ramsay.
"It was a very close game. It was all tied at 3-3 going into the sixth end," said Cougars coach Lisa Bailey. "College Heights was lying two in the top-12 and another one in the back-eight. Diamond drew down to it, but it wasn't quite frozen and Alyssa picked it out to go three-up."
In the seventh end, College Heights was lying two and Wilson's last-rock attempt to score with the hammer picked up some debris on the ice and the Cougars stole two more. That ended the game.
The Cougars were undefeated in the double knockout format bonspiel, beating Fraser Lake and Kelly Road in the preliminary rounds to advance to Saturday's final.
The Roadrunners defeated Fraser Lake 5-4 in an earlier semifinal Saturday to meet College Heights.
The Cougars now advance to provincials Feb. 18-21 in Creston.
On the boys side, Fraser Lake defeated Chetwynd twice to advance to provincials.
The winning team includes skip Tyrone Singh, third Keenan Lindstrom, second Dylan Tobiasson, lead Rajan Singh and fifth player Julian Chmelyk.
"We originally had seven [in the girls] and six [in the boys] but they just backed out," said north central zone co-ordinator Margaret Bourassa, who calls Dawson Creek home. "But they were just too busy, which often happens. But the games were all close and it's good to see the high calibre of play."
Zones alternate every year between the Peace country and Prince George.
Between now and provincials, Eberherr and her team are competing in Thursday's commercial league and Sunday's open recreational league at the PGGCC to prepare.
Two-thirds of the rink (Connell, Bailey Eberherr, Ross) posted a 1-6 record at the Tim Hortons B.C. junior girls curling championship in Parksville Dec. 28 to Jan. 3. They spent the first half of the season practicing and competing in Quesnel due to the ice plant being down at the PGGCC.
"This is our third showing at provincials," said coach Bailey. "The first year we were third, and last year we were sixth. In Creston, hopefully we'll play like we did on the weekend. [The girls] figured out the ice pretty quickly."
