Jones, Einarson, Homan & Sturmay playoff-bound at Scotties

Ontario’s Rachel Homan, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones, Canada’s Kerri Einarson and Alberta’s Selena Sturmay secured playoff berths at the Canadian women’s curling championship with victories on Wednesday.

Homan (6-0), Sturmay (6-1), Einarson (6-1), and Jones (5-1) were assured of top-three finishes in their pools at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Three-time champion Homan remained unbeaten with a 10-3 win over B.C.’s Clancy Grandy (5-2), while Sturmay came from behind for a 10-9 win in an extra end over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (4-3) in the morning draw.

Jones beat provincial counterpart Kate Cameron 10-5 in Pool B to drop the latter to 3-3 alongside Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith, who was a 7-5 winner of Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories.

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Einarson (6-1) punched her ticket to the next round with a 6-5 win over Manitoba champion Kaitlyn Lawes in the late draw. Lawes fell to 3-4 but is not officially eliminated from contention yet.

Galusha, New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams and Ontario’s Danielle Inglis were eliminated from contention in Pool B with four losses apiece.

Sturmay recovered from a 6-1 deficit after four ends with a steal of three in the ninth against McCarville to put the host province up 9-7. Her Edmonton team can finish no worse than second in Pool A.

In other games, rookie Saskatchewan skip Skylar Ackerman (4-3) ranked third in Pool A following a 9-6 win over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (1-5).

McCarville, B.C.’s Corryn Brown and Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (3-4) remained in playoff contention.

Lawes beat winless Jane DiCarlo of Prince Edward Island 10-6 in the morning draw. Brown downed St-Georges 8-3.

The top three teams in each pool after Thursday’s final draw advance to Friday’s six-team playoff round, from which Saturday’s four Page playoff teams will be determined.

Tiebreaker games have been eliminated from the format. Head-to-head results followed by cumulative draw-to-the-button scores that precede each game solve ties.

The winner of Sunday’s final represents Canada at the world championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S., and earns a return trip to the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., as defending champion.

With files from Russ Hobson