Jennifer Jones steals in extra end to win Players’ Championship
CALGARY — Jennifer Jones stole the extra end to capture her second consecutive Players’ Championship.
Jones swiped two points to defeat reigning Canadian and world champion Kelly Scott 8-6 in Saturday’s final.
The Winnipeg-based team of Jennifer Jones, Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Officer and Dawn Askin earned $26,000.
Jones shot 57 per cent but made it count when it mattered most with two clutch freezes in the extra end forcing Scott, from Kelowna, B.C., to attempt a long runback double that failed.
It was a different story earlier in the game as Jones wrecked on a guard in the fifth end allowing Scott an easy pass to score four and grab a 5-2 lead. Jones rebounded scoring a deuce in six, holding Scott to a single in seven and counting another couple points in eight to require the extra frame.
Jones’s victory denied Scott a chance to clinch a direct berth into the 2009 Canadian Olympic curling trials. Meanwhile, Jones can now lock up a guaranteed spot by winning another major tournament within the next two years.
Notes: The team of Scott, third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Renee Simons collected $15,000. … Scott defeated former junior teammate Jones twice en route to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title earlier this year. … Six-time Canadian champion Colleen Jones was the super spare of the week subbing for skip Kelley Law’s B.C. team. Team Law lost 5-4 to Team Jones in the semifinals.
