Jones reaches Scotties final; Einarson, McCarville to meet in semifinal

Jennifer Jones will play for a record seventh Scotties Tournament of Hearts title.

The veteran skip and her Manitoba team beat Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville 8-5 in the 1-2 Page playoff game Saturday night at the Canadian women’s curling championship in Kamloops. The victory sent Jones directly into Sunday night’s final.

McCarville drops into the semifinal to face three-time defending champion Kerri Einarson, who beat Nova Scotia’s Christina Black 9-4 in the 3-4 Page playoff game earlier Saturday.

The winner of the semifinal, which is to be played Sunday afternoon, advances to the final to face Jones.

Einarson beat McCarville in the 2022 Scotties final.

On Saturday, McCarville stole points in each of the first three ends to take a 3-0 lead on the Manitoba champions, but Jones responded with a deuce in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth.

After McCarville took one in the sixth, Jones replied with a single in the seventh to tie the score and then stole one in the eighth to take a 5-4 lead.

In the ninth, McCarville was facing three Jones counters in the four-foot when she threw her last rock. The Northern Ontario skip made a double raise to count one and the teams were tied 5-5 heading home.

Jones again had three stones in the four-foot as McCarville attempted a draw with her final shot in the 10th, but it came up light and Jones didn’t have to throw her last rock.

In the 3-4 game, Einarson was forced to take one in the first end with hammer, but she scored deuces in each of the third, fifth, seventh and ninth ends with last rock en route to the victory.