Manitoba, Ontario and the Jennifer Jones wild-card team opened the championship round of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with wins Thursday.
The three teams were 7-1 frontrunners among the eight emerging from the preliminary round.
Jones stole eight points in the first three ends en route to a 10-5 thumping of defending champion Chelsea Carey.
Manitoba’s Kerry Einarson doubled B.C.’s Corryn Brown 8-4.
Ontario’s Rachel Homan defeated Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville 9-4.
Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle stole a point in the ninth and 10th ends edge Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt 8-7.
McCarville, Silvernagle and Birth were even at 5-4. Carey and Brown both fell to 4-4.
The top four teams from each pool carried their round-robin records with them into the championship round, which will determine Saturday’s four Page playoff teams.
The semifinal and final are Sunday at Mosaic Place.
Silvernagle and Brown won their respective Thursday morning tiebreakers to avoid elimination, but each faced a marathon day of three games.
Including the previous evening’s loss to Northern Ontario, the host province would play in four straight draws.
Saskatchewan claimed the final championship-round spot in Pool A beating New Brunswick’s Andrew Crawford 9-7 in a morning tiebreaker.
Crawford was light with her final throw of the extra end, giving Silvernagle the winning deuce.
Brown locked up the last berth in Pool B with a 5-4 tiebreaker win over Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault.
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