Jones rallies late past Muirhead to reach Players’ Championship semifinals
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones scored a deuce in the eighth and stole two in the extra end to edge Eve Muirhead of Scotland 7-5 Saturday and advance to the Players’ Championship semifinals.
The reigning Olympic gold medallist was actually looking to score three for the win in eight and a silent crowd watched her slash double takeout connect but fail to execute completely as one of her rocks spun out of the rings. Nevertheless, the highlight-reel shot saved Jones’ season as she was able to prevail in the extra end.
“I knew we were going to be close, it was just a question of whether we could save all of the rocks,” Jones said. “When it hit I thought we made it for three but it just spun out.”
Third Kaitlyn Lawes wasn’t quite sure about the plan at first.
“I was kind of questioning it there, Jen was really confident and we almost made it for three,” Lawes said. “It was a great shot, she threw it really well and it was nice to be able to have that extra end.”
Muirhead missed on a tick shot in the extra frame and Jones was able to capitalize to lie three. Muirhead was unable to grab shot rock with her final stone.
“They just missed the second tick which gave us the chance and (second) Jill (Officer) made a great come-around,” Jones explained. “We made then make a hard shot on the last one which is all you could ever ask.”
Muirhead opened the scoring with three in the first, but Jones rallied back with a point in the second and single steals in the fourth and fifth ends to tie it. Muirhead regained the lead with a deuce in the sixth.
While Muirhead and her team head home, their season was highlighted with a bronze medal at the Sochi Winter Games and the skip looks forward to the future.
“I think we’re not finished yet,” Muirhead said. “We’re a young team. I think we’ve got a bright future ahead of us. It just shows we can have great games against the top Canadian teams here and we love coming to Canada so there’s hopefully a big year ahead of us.”
Watch the Players’ Championship men’s and women’s semifinals live on Sportsnet at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan also advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5 victory over Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton. It was redemption for Homan after falling 7-2 to Lawton during round-robin play. As Masters champions, Homan has an opportunity to claim a $100,000 CAD bonus if her team can also capture the Players’ Championship title to sweep the two Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles.
Jones will face Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson in an Olympic gold-medal game rematch while Homan takes on Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni. Sigfridsson and Tirinzoni both earned byes to the semifinals at the top two seeds.
