Northwest Territories still in the hunt at 2017 Scotties

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – While Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba’s Michelle Englot were loudly running their records to 4-0 Monday afternoon at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories was more quietly winning her third game of the competition over on Sheet A. The Yellowknife team overcame a 6-2 deficit after four ends to defeat British Columbia’s Marla Mallett (0-4; Maple Ridge) 12-9. Galusha got a nasty break when she gave up the steal of four in the fourth end. Galusha had second shot, corner frozen to B.C.’s shot stone when she threw the last rock. Her long raise chipped out her own rock, leaving B.C. with a bunch. Galusha bounced back with three in the fifth and stole three in the sixth to get back into the lead. It wasn’t easy from there, with the game tied 9-9 coming home. She squeezed past a guard with her final shot, removing a B.C. rock and counting three. “Yeah, 3-1, amazing,” said Galusha, whose team is rounded out by vice-skip Megan Koehler, second Danielle Derry, lead Sharon Cormier, alternate Shona Barbour and coach John Epping. “That was a must-win for us today. John has things mapped out for us. Yesterday, we were going for a split day and we achieved that. Today, we knew we had to win. “It’s a one-game day and we are so happy we have the night off. We are looking forward to some rest. We all slept a lot better. Yesterday, we were mentally exhausted. I had a fog over my head and couldn’t think straight.” That comes from having played seven games since Feb. 16. Monday afternoon’s game was number eight. “Today, I felt a lot better and it showed. I played a lot better today.” Homan and Englot remained unbeaten on the Monday afternoon draw at the Meridian Centre. Homan’s Ottawa team defeated Shannon Kleibrink (2-2; Okotoks) 6-4, while Englot’s Winnipeg foursome downed Newfoundland/Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (2-2; St. John’s) 8-5. Homan picked Kleibrink apart with steals of one on ends six, seven and eight. She wasn’t at her best early, but started to roll in the second half. Englot scored five straight points after falling behind 5-3 to Curtis. Steals of one in ends seven, eight and nine gave her a three-point lead coming home. In the other game, Quebec’s Eve Bélisle (Mount Royal) defeated Prince Edward Island’s Robyn MacPhee (0-4; Charlottetown) 8-7 to even her record at 2-2. Team Canada’s Chelsea Carey (2-1; Calgary), Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (2-1; Thunder Bay), Nova Scotia’s Mary Mattatall (1-2; Windsor) and Saskatchewan’s Penny Barker (0-3; Moose Jaw) had byes. There is another draw tonight at 7:30 ET.

TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, is providing extensive coverage of the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

For ticket information, go to: www.curling.ca/2017scotties/tickets/

For schedule information, go to: www.curling.ca/2017scotties/draw/

Live scoring for the 2017 Scotties is available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2236

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2017scotties/?lang=fr