SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -
P.E.I. is tied for first place after three days of play at the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
"That's a pretty nice feeling waking up Tuesday at the Scotties either in
first place or tied for first," said Kathy O'Rourke, who calls the game and
throws second stones for the Charlottetown Curling Club rink that also
includes lead Trisha Affleck, Geri-Lynn Ramsay, who throws third stones, and
Erin Carmody, who handles the skip shots. "I knew this team had a lot of
potential and we just had to come here, make one shot at a time and not get
too far ahead of ourselves.
"We normally play a strong back five (ends), so when we're close after five
I say to the girls, 'Let's turn this up a notch.'"
P.E.I. scored three points in the 10th end to edge Manitoba's Jill Thurston
7-6 in Monday afternoon's draw. P.E.I. and Ontario (Krista McCarville) are
4-1 (won-lost).
"Obviously, there's still room for improvement," said Carmody, who, along
with Ramsay, is competing in her first Canadian women's curling
championship. "But we're just taking it one game at a time, one shot at a
time.
"We showed a lot of heart to come back in the last end and get our three.
It's not always easy to do that, especially after you give up a steal of
two."
P.E.I. stole two points in the seventh end for a 4-2 lead. But Manitoba
answered with a deuce in the eighth end, and then stole another two points
in the ninth to go up 6-4.
But the Islanders, with last-rock advantage, bounced back and Ramsay
delivered what Carmody called a "crucial shot" in the 10th.
"She told me after that she really wanted to throw that and it was a
pistol," said Carmody. "There was a yellow stone just outside the rings and
there was a yellow stone frozen onto a red one.
"What she did was come down, hit the yellow onto the other yellow and that
knocked the red out and we were sitting two buried."
In fact, Carmody threw away her hammer shot as P.E.I. was counting three,
with the deciding point in the 12-foot. A measurement confirmed P.E.I.'s
victory.
"We only had one game day today and we really wanted to get a win," said
O'Rourke. "We really had to grind to try and squeak that win out."
O'Rourke added that after P.E.I. split its two games Sunday, they were
looking to improve their consistency.
"Yesterday (Sunday) was just an alright day," said O'Rourke as P.E.I. split
its two games. "We came out with a win, which we were happy with, but we
didn't really think our play was where it needed to be.
"Today, we said, 'Let's try to bring this game up a little bit.'"
P.E.I. plays Nova Scotia this morning and Ontario tonight.
jpsports@journalpioneer.com
Up Close and Personal
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. - It wasn't long after P.E.I. pulled out a 7-6
come-from-behind win over Manitoba at the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
in Monday afternoon's draw that they were back on the hot seat.
The Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Kathy O'Rourke, Erin Carmody,
Geri-Lynn Ramsay and Trisha Affleck was the featured team for "Up Close and
Personal" in the HeartStop Lounge.
"You sit down on some couches, they ask you some questions and get the
audience to ask you some questions, too," explained Carmody. "It was fun."
Were there any interesting questions?
"I think they were all pretty basic," laughed Carmody. "It was just
basically describing our team dynamics."
P.E.I. had a bye Monday night.
