Tracey Jones didn't just keep her slim playoff hopes alive on Wednesday at the B.C. Scotties with a win over Patti Knezevic, she earned some local bragging rights in the process.
Jones drew to the four-foot in the 10th end of a thrilling game between the clubmates to win 8-7 and stay in hunt at the women's provincial curling championship at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
"We all went in there wanting to win the game for the game itself, but for sure we wanted to win that one," Jones said.
With the game tied coming home, the Jones rink was able to keep the four foot open in the 10th end, making a steal attempt for Knezevic more difficult.
With a few guards out front, but the centre open, Jones made the move into the rings with her first.
"The four-foot was open, I knew I could get in there," she said. "When [Knezevic] didn't make it on her first one, I knew I was either going to do it on my first or second, so I thought let's get in there now, make it good and put the pressure on her to make her shot."
Jones put her rock right where she wanted it on the four-foot and Knezevic wasn't able to match it with her last, sliding a few inches too far.
"I just didn't have the weight in 10," Knezevic said.
In the evening draw, Jones faced the opposite sitution, tied coming home and without last rock against Kesa Van Osch of Victoria. This time she was heavy with her first and wrecked on a guard on her second. Van Osch scored three to win 9-6 and earn a share of first place in the standings with a 5-1 record.
The loss dropped Jones to 2-4 for the week and will need to win out to try and secure a tiebreaker berth.
Knezevic fell behind 6-2 through three ends against Allison MacInnes of Abbotsford but came back to win 10-9, scoring two in the 10th. That's the third straight split in as many days for Knezevic, who is still in the playoff hunt at 3-3 along with MacInnes.
Defending champion Kelly Scott lost her first game of week, falling 6-5 to Amy Gibson of Vancouver after leading 5-3 after seven ends. Gibson scored one in eight and stole singles in nine and 10 as Scott was light with her last stone in the final end.
Scott, who beat Shawna Jensen of Victoria earlier in the day, is tied at 5-1 and those two rinks will meet in Friday's final round robin draw.
Gibson, who lost earlier in the day to MacInnes, is 2-4.
Karla Thompson of Kamloops split her games to finish the day at 4-2, first losing in an extra end to Sarah Wark of Victoria and then coming back with a win over Jensen. Wark continued her hot run moving to 4-2 with stolen extra end win over Marla Mallett of the Cloverdale club in Surrey. Mallett fell to 2-4.
Marla Mallett from the Cloverdale Club in Victoria also split Wednesday to stand at 3-3. She lost to Van Osch in the afternoon but beat Wark in an extra end in the evening, pulling Wark back into the group at 3-3.
Jones was scored at 68 per cent in the all-Prince George match, her second highest score of the week, while Knezevic shot 57 per cent, her second lowest score. As a team, the Jones rink shot 68 per cent, one percentage point more than the Knezevic foursome.
In a game which featured a series of momentum swings, it was a steal of one by Jones in the eighth which turned the tide one last time. Tied 6-6 and facing one Jones counter in the four-foot, Jones tried an angle raise runback which could have netted three points, but was unsuccessful.
The other option for Knezevic would have been to draw for one and give up the hammer, but she said the decision was easy.
"Do we want to be up one or do we want to take the risk, so it's risk versus reward," Knezevic said. "You take the risk and you play it out."
Down one, without the hammer, Knezevic played for a blank in the ninth but stuffed her last takeout attempt to take one, tie the game and hand Jones last rock in the 10th.
Earlier in the game Knezevic had a chance for another big end when she tried an in-off which could have netted a handful of points, but she was off by a half-inch and settled for a pair.
"The safety shot was to play the clean pick for three, the in-off, was the same type of thing you can throw at it," she said. "It just barely didn't get it, it came up a half-inch."
Knezevic opened the game with a steal of two in the first, but Jones came right back with three in the second and a stolen point in the third. Knezevic tied it back up with a deuce in the fourth and held Jones to one in the fifth.
"It was an exciting game out there and good feeling coming off of that one," Jones said.
The round robin continues through Friday morning, with playoffs set to begin later that day.
