News Masters

TRURO, N.S. — Team Laura Walker is sticking around the Canadian Beef Masters for at least another game.

The Edmonton club scored a 6-4 victory over Team Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge in a Battle of Alberta during the final women’s round-robin draw Friday at Rath Eastlink Community Centre.

Team Walker finished the group stage with a 2-2 record to secure a spot in the evening tiebreakers and will take on Team Tracy Fleury (2-2) of East St. Paul, Man.

“That was our best-played game as a team for sure,” Walker said. “That is the biggest thing because we feel like we’re on an upward trend with how we’re playing and that will bode well for the future either way.”

Down by two, Walker took the lead in the fourth with a hit for three points, however, it could have ended up being four with another stone appearing to bite the rings. Team Scheidegger wanted to measure the rock first but it looked like lead Laine Peters touched it and the stone was removed.

“I honestly have no idea if it was in. I think it was very close,” Walker said. “It was definitely a measure and it just happens sometimes. You’re so into the game and it’s just such a natural reaction to go and kick the rocks away.

“When we looked at the replay, Laine didn’t actually kick it, which is unfortunate. We could have probably measured it but when you’re in the moment and she just didn’t know if she touched it, it’s just one of those things. Every single one of us has done it and we’re all going to do it again. It happens.”

The teams traded singles in the fifth and sixth ends as Walker held a one-point lead heading into the final frame without the hammer. Scheidegger’s last went straight through the rings untouched and Walker tacked on a steal.

Team Scheidegger had already qualified and head right into the quarterfinals at 3-1.

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Elsewhere, Team Nina Roth of the U.S. also stayed alive by completing the comeback to beat Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones 8-7. Jones scored four in the third to grab a 4-2 advantage and led 7-3 after six. Roth rallied to count a three-ender in seven and stole two in the eighth as Jones faced three on her last and hit and rolled out.

The defending champion Jones already punched her playoff ticket at 3-1. Roth (2-2) takes on Edmonton’s Team Chelsea Carey in Saturday morning’s tiebreaker.

Carey (2-2) fell to Scotland’s Team Eve Muirhead 4-3. Muirhead was already eliminated but ended on a high note at 1-3.

Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa also remains in contention picking up a 5-4 extra-end win over Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg. Both teams concluded round-robin play at 2-2. Fujisawa plays Winnipeg’s Team Darcy Robertson (2-2) in an evening tiebreaker while Hasselborg goes up against Team Kerri Einarson (2-2) of Gimli, Man., in a morning tiebreaker.

In the lone men’s game, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller thumped Team Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 7-1 in four ends. Schwaller (1-3) picked up his first win in the GSOC while Jacobs heads home winless at 0-4.

The Canadian Beef Masters is the second event and first major of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season with 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world. The quarterfinals are set for Saturday afternoon with both semifinals and finals scheduled for Sunday.

Men’s round-robin action wraps up at 8 p.m. AT (7 p.m. ET) on Sportsnet 360 and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: Winners take home $30,000 of the $250,000 total purse plus berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup in April. … 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.