Late-game collapse leaves McCarville rink at 0-3

THUNDER BAY – A disastrous finish has Team Northern Ontario facing the reality of a second straight playoff miss at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

This time, at home.

“Big time,” McCarville said on Sunday afternoon, moments after watching Alberta’s Selena Sturmay steal singles in the seventh and eighth ends, then a game-deciding four in the ninth to storm back to claim a 10-6 win, stunning to silence the Fort William Gardens crowd.

McCarville led the match 5-1 after three ends and 6-3 at the break.

That’s when the bottom started to fall out, she said.

“Definitely in the second half. You try to go out a little defensive, but it just didn’t seem to be working for us. I think we should have stayed a little more aggressive. That’s where we seemed to have our draw weight well. We were making really good shots and it’s tough to defend on a five-rock rule, on good ice that swings,” McCarville said.

Sturmay (2-1), who pre-qualified for the Scotties, said they struggled with draw weight in the early stages of the match, which ended with handshakes in the 10^th.

It was the second straight year they’ve fought back from a deep deficit to knock off McCarville.

Last year it was a 6-1 hole.

“Just having to have an uphill battle, this year and last year, was a challenge. They’re a great team. We’re just happy we could grind out that win,” Sturmay said.

Down 5-1 isn’t the end of the world with just three ends in the books, but it’s something the Alberta team, which also includes lead Paige Papley, second Dezaray Hawes and third Danielle Schmiemann, want to correct moving forward at the Scotties.

“We have a lot of grit and determination, which I think goes a long way.,” she said.

Sturmay said the ice was a patchy in the early stages of the match, but once they figured out how hard to throw, that proved to be the difference.

How it happened was less important that the fact it actually did, she said.

“We did need the win. The win was huge. We knew that coming into this game it was going to be a battle and every win out here is important.”

It wasn’t looking good for Sturmay early on. Forced to one with hammer in the first, facing four Northern Ontario stones, the Alberta skip flashed on her final throw, leaving McCarville a draw to the four-foot for four and a 4-1 lead.

Sturmay’s final stone in the third came up short, giving McCarville, lead Sarah Potts, second Kendra Lilly and third Andrea Kelly a steal of one and upped their lead to 5-1.

Alberta made a draw for two in the fourth and trailed 6-3 at the break.

The comeback began in the sixth, though Sturmay was long on a draw for a pair, settling for one.

McCarville was left with a draw to a tightly guarded button for one in the seventh but came up short and her lead shrunk to one. In the eighth she was inches long on her final throw and gave up another steal, the match tied 6-6.

In the ninth, Sturmay was able to clog up the rings, leaving McCarville a near impossible shot. She came up well short on her draw weight and the match was all but over.

The loss leaves Northern Ontario at 0-3, in must-win territory if they want to make the playoffs, which is now a longshot at best.

They know the task at hand, Kelly said.

“We know we have to get the wins going and win out,” Kelly said, repeating a message the team told itself after Saturday night’s loss to Team Canada.

“We’ll talk about the same things again going into the next game. We want to have a good performance. We’ll talk a little bit about strategy after that game and see what we need to change, so if we get leads, we don’t blow them.”

In other action, Team Canada’s Rachel Homan outlasted Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik 9-7, New Brunswick doubled up Nunavut 6-3 and B.C.’s Corryn Brown edged Saskatchewan’s Nancy Martin 7-6 in an extra end.