First win for Quebec in front of hometown crowd

It was just a matter of time before Quebec’s Allison Ross found a way to win, and on Monday night, she did it, posting a 9-3 victory over Sarah Koltun of the Yukon/Northwest Territories. Tied 3-3 after six, Ross had the crowd roaring after she made a double for four points and a 7-3 lead. A steal of two in the next end put the game away and gave the home town team its first win of the tournament. The team from the Glenmore Club – Ross, Melissa Gannon, Brittany O’Rourke, Pamela Nugent, alternate Lisa Davies and coach Glenn Tester – didn’t do anything different, said the skip. “We played the way we’ve been playing the last three games,” Ross said. “We just got on the right side of the inch tonight. But nothing was really different from our last three games.” “I feel like we have a handle on the ice now. We’re feeling comfortable out there,” she said. “And it’s great to hear the fans too.” In other games, B.C.’s Kesa Van Osch won a game of steals over Heather Smith of Nova Scotia, 9-8. The game looked out of reach after six ends, when Van Osch’s last draw came up short, giving Smith a steal of four and a 6-2 lead. But the young team from Victoria fought back and led 8-6 in the ninth. Smith tied it up in the 10th, forcing the extra end, and a perfect draw by the B.C. skip put the game away. Alberta’s Val Sweeting defeated New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford 9-8 in the other extra-end game of the evening. Leading 8-5 in the tenth, Crawford was able to tie it up when Sweeting’s final draw against three went long. Sweeting made no mistake in the extra, scoring the single on a hit and stick. The win moves Alberta into a tie for second with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Heather Strong, who defeated P.E.I.’s Kim Dolan, 6-4. “It sure is a grind,” said Strong. “These are all great teams. We didn’t get here just by invitation. We know the blood, sweat and tears shed by all these teams at the provincial level, and out of that comes a lot of experience.” “We were a bit cautious going out,” she said about tonight’s game. “We were hitting and rolling out a lot, those sorts of things, so I wanted to keep the game fairly simple, and I knew by doing that we were going to keep the game fairly close.” “We always have great games against those girls,” she said. “The battle of the islands, right?” The Scotties continues with draws on Tuesday at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (all times EST). TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of the CCA’s Season of Champions, will provide extensive coverage of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, with 66 hours of live broadcasts scheduled. The winner of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will represent Canada at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Booster Juice, March 15 to 23 in Saint John, N.B. The 2014 Scotties marks the 33rd year of Kruger Products Limited’s sponsorship of the Canadian women’s championship. For ticket information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/tickets/ For schedule information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/draw-schedule/