Prince George's Jen Rusnell went into her Thursday evening draw on the verge of clinching a spot in the 2012 B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts playoff round.
Unfortunately a lopsided 10-2 loss to Victoria's Marla Mallett has Rusnell in a must-win situation when she gets into the hack this morning at the North Shore Winter Club in North Vancouver.
"It would be nice to get ahead of the logjam," said Rusnell prior to the evening draw. "If we can rack up a couple more wins that puts us in a really great spot heading into playoffs."
The Rusnell rink featuring third Kristen Fewster, second Blaine Richards and lead Amber Cheveldave are now tied in second with Mallett with identical 5-3 records.
Rusnell's troubles in securing more than her customary single with the hammer was a decisive factor in the 10-2 loss after seven ends to Mallett. The Victoria skip opened with three in the first end and picked up another two in the third for a 5-1 advantage.
In her attempt to get back into the game Rusnell turned up the offence, but instead gave up steals of two in the sixth and seventh ends before shaking hands.
In her first draw Thursday Rusnell beat Kelley Law's Royal City Curling Club 7-3.
"I think we came out with our best game and really kind of forced the issue and controlled as much of the game as we could," said Rusnell, in a phone conversation after beating Law. "It's also good because if we're getting into playoffs we're likely to see her again. It's nice to get a win the first time around."
Law fell to 4-4 after an extra-end 10-9 loss to Roselyn Craig (5-3), while Nicole Backe (5-3) earned a 7-3 win over Kelly Thompson.
Kelly Scott (6-2) remained in first place despite losing her evening draw against Allison MacInnes 8-6 giving up a steal of two in the 10th end.
Rusnell heads into the final draw in a four-way tie with Backe, Craig and Mallett and needs a win to stay in contention for tiebreakers.
The Prince George ladies wrap up the round robin at 9:30 a.m. today with a draw against Craig's Victoria Club team, skipped by Sarah Wark.
With a 3-1 record heading into Wednesday's draw, the Rusnell team earned a split with a 6-4 win over MacInnes' Kamloops foursome before falling 5-3 to Scott in the evening draw. It was a defensive game between Rusnell and Scott with the Kelowna skip scoring the only deuce of the game in the fourth end.
In her opening draw Tuesday, Rusnell was in a tight battle with Backe's Royal City Curling Club foursome. It was 4-4 after nine ends. Rusnell needed a steal for the win and had the winning point well guarded, but Backe made the hit, picking up her first win at 8-4.
"She's a digger and we knew if [Backe] got on a roll she'd be able to dig her way back in [to the mix]," said Rusnell about Backe's foursome. "It was still a really strong game for us, just a couple little mistakes we had to iron out. We'll be ready to face her again if we have to."
The Prince George foursome rebounded Tuesday night with a 4-3 win over Marilou Richter's Richmond foursome.
Rusnell opened the tournament Monday with a 7-6 win in an extra end over Thompson of the Richmond Curling Club, then moved to 2-0 after Day 1 with a 6-5 victory over Brenda Garvey. Prince George's Patti Knezevic throws last rocks for Garvey.
"It was good to get some wins coming out of the gate and roll into some of our bigger games," said Rusnell.
Unfortunately for Knezevic and Garvey's rink the week hasn't gone as well. The Garvey foursome which include second Chelan Cotter and lead Rhonda Camozzi were still looking for their first win Thursday night as they occupy last place at 0-8 after falling to Richter 8-5 on Thursday evening.
