Winters survives marathon weekend to earn trip to B.C. Scotties
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Jill Winters of Nelson survived a marathon weekend to earn one of the two spots in the upcoming 2011 Scotties B.C. Women’s Curling Championships in Cloverdale.
Winters outlasted the Karla Thompson rink of Kamloops 7-6 in the B-C event final of the Interior Women’s Curling Championships Sunday at the Summerland Curling Club to win a trip to the provincial final.
It was the ninth game of the weekend for the Winters rink, which includes fellow teammates, third Samantha Almquist, second Natalie Nowicki and lead Heather Nichol,
The C-event final was necessary after the Spoolmak Country rink dumped the All-Kootenay rink 11-6 in the B-event final earlier in the day. Thompson scored four in the ninth to put the contest away.
And the B-C-event game didn’t look good early for Winters. Thompson struck for three in the opening end forcing Winters to play catchup.
However, it didn’t take long for the veteran skip to rebound. Winters scored a single in the second before stealing a pair in fourth and a single in the five to establish a 4-3 lead.
After Thompson tied the contest by scoring one in the sixth, Winters struck for a deuce in the seventh before holding off Thompson for the narrow win.
This is the second time in three years Winters had skipped a team to the B.C. Scott Tournament. The West Kootenay rink included Allison Hurley and Loreen Amonson of Nelson and Lisa Nevakshonoff of Castlegar. Winters also curled at the provincials in 1998, 2006 and 2007.
The Cloverdale Curling Club hosts the 2011 Scotties B.C. Women’s Curling Championships January 17-23.
Jen Fewster of Prince George, winner of the A-event, is the other Interior rep from the Summerland event slated to attend the Scotties tournament.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
