Homan tops Harrison to win Ontario Scotties title
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan will represent the host province later this month at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Homan captured her third career provincial title with a 7-4 victory over Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga during Sunday’s final at the Ontario Scotties in Cobourg.
The team of Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle round out the field for the Canadian championship tournament taking place Feb. 18-26 in St. Catharines.
Harrison, who topped the round-robin table at 6-1, earned a direct bye to the final and opened with the hammer. Facing two on her last in the first, Harrison hit and rolled but stopped in time for a single.
Homan sat shot rock in three and looked to make a double with her last to possibly score a deuce, however, her shooter spun a bit too far for just the one point to tie it.
Harrison drew for another point in the fourth to retake the one-point lead at 2-1.
Homan punched out a counter to score three and grab a two-point advantage before Harrison made a nose hit for two in the sixth to make it all square 4-4.
The eighth end proved to be the game-changer as Homan narrowly missed a guard to tap out Harrison’s shot rock and score a pair to pull back ahead. Homan extended her lead to 7-4 in the ninth as Harrison slid just a bit too deep on her last to give up a steal.
Homan made a routine runback in the 10th with her second skip stone to run Harrison out of rocks.
Homan, who won back-to-back national championships in 2013 and 2014, fell in last year’s Ontario Scotties final to Jenn Hanna of Ottawa. Hanna stepped back from competitive curling after the season and did not return to defend the title.
Team Homan finished the tournament with an overall 7-2 record with their only losses to Harrison and Allison Flaxey of Caledon during preliminary play. Homan hammered Cathy Auld of Dundas 9-3 in Saturday’s semifinal.
2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts teams
Note: New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon will play in a pre-qualifying tournament Feb. 16-18.