News National

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. — Scotland’s Team Eve Muirhead outlasted Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan 8-5 during round-robin action Thursday at the Boost National.

Both teams now hold 2-1 records with one group game remaining each Friday.

A well-played second end from Muirhead had her sitting three counters. Homan lined up a triple takeout, however, she was only able to eliminate one and gave up a steal of two. Muirhead left her last rock of the third end wide open and Homan capitalized to knock it out and score three for the lead.

The see-saw continued as the teams traded pairs of points with Muirhead drawing for a deuce in the fourth while Homan hit for two in the fifth and reclaimed the one-point advantage. Homan made a runback with her last in six but rolled open and allowed Muirhead to tap it out and count another couple to pull back ahead 6-5.

Homan blanked the seventh to keep the hammer coming home and was forced to draw for one, but her rock came up short of the house and Muirhead tacked two more points on the board.

Boost National: Tickets | Scores & Standings | Game Schedule | Broadcast Schedule

Toronto’s Team Jacqueline Harrison earned their first win of the event to remain in contention. Harrison (1-2) defeated Team Kerri Einarson (2-1) of Gimli, Man., 7-5.

Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni qualified for the playoffs with a 3-0 record after defeating Team Nina Roth of the United States 7-5. Roth dropped to a 1-2 record.

Team Jamie Sinclair of the U.S., moved up to a 2-1 record with a 6-4 win over Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura (1-2).

In the lone men’s game, Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin earned a playoff spot at 3-0 with a 6-4 victory over Team Scott McDonald (0-3) from Kingston, Ont.

The Boost National is the fourth event and second major of the 2018-19 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world.

Both divisions are split into three pools for round-robin play with the top eight teams overall qualifying for Saturday’s quarterfinals. The semis are also set for Saturday with both finals taking place Sunday.

Round-robin play continues at 8:30 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET) with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet East, Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet 360 and online streaming at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: Winners of the Boost National collect $30,000 of the $250,000 total purse plus berths to the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season finale Humpty’s Champions Cup. … Points are also on the line for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April. … All games are played to eight ends with 33 minutes of thinking time plus two, 90-second timeouts. The five-rock rule is also in effect.