Englot tops Robertson to win Manitoba Scotties title
Michelle Englot has punched her ticket to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Englot topped Darcy Robertson 8-6 in the all-Winnipeg rink final at the Manitoba provincial championship on home ice Sunday at Eric Coy Arena.
The Regina native Englot captured seven Saskatchewan titles before joining Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson-Westcott and Raunora Westcott one province over this season. The trio, along with skip Kristy McDonald, fell to Kerri Einarson’s team in last year’s provincial championship game.
Englot opened with a two-point lead settling for a single in the first and stealing one in the second when Robertson looked to draw through a port but came up light to give up a steal.
Robertson, a three-time provincial champion, rebounded with a deuce in the third to tie it 2-2.
Englot tapped for two in the fourth end to retake the lead. Robertson made an angle raise to promote her own guard into the house for a single in five with Englot leading 4-3.
Facing three, Englot looked to draw to the button and came up just light to give up a steal of two as Robertson swiped a 5-4 advantage.
Englot chipped out Robertson’s shot stone to leave one of her own around for a single in seven that brought things level again 5-5.
A great hit and roll to lie buried in eight gave Englot shot stone. Robertson needed to draw fully into the four-foot circle to outmatch and only made it into the eight as Englot stole to pull back ahead 6-5.
Robertson couldn’t get her last in for two in the ninth and only got a single that evened the score.
Englot sat two in the 10th and didn’t need to throw her last as Robertson looked to angle raise one of her own but crashed on a counter instead.
Earlier Sunday, Robertson stunned seven-time provincial champ Jennifer Jones 8-6 in the semifinal.
It’s the first time Jones has competed in the Manitoba Scotties and not won the provincial championship since 2004.
Jones was on a roll to start the tournament, posting a 7-0 record in round-robin play, until falling to Englot 9-5 in Saturday’s 1 vs. 1 page playoff match. Robertson clipped Shannon Birchard 7-6 in the 2 vs. 2 page playoff game.
Englot, Robertson and Einarson all went 5-2 through the round-robin. Englot advanced straight through to the 1 vs. 1 game based on aggregate draw-to-the-button scores while Robertson drilled Einarson 12-3 in a tiebreaker to eliminate the defending champion.