O’Rourke takes charge at Hearts
Written by on February 3rd, 2010 in Latest News.
Kathy O’Rourke prepares to throws skip rock on Wednesday. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
Kathy O’Rourke took sole possession of first place the hard way Wednesday night at the Tournament of Hearts, defeating none other than the two-time defending champion.
O’Rourke, competing in her first Hearts as skip and second overall, led Prince Edward Island to a 9-5 victory over Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones in Draw 14 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
O’Rourke rallied from 5-3 down with six unanswered points — two in each of the last three ends — to jolt Jones and improve her record to 7-2 with three draws remaining.
O’Rourke whipped Quebec’s Eve Belisle 7-3 earlier Thursday.
“After last night’s game against Ontario, we didn’t play very well,” O’Rourke said. “They beat us pretty soundly.
“We got together this morning and just said, ‘Girls, we’ve got to start making shots or people are going to start beating us.’ We came out really strong this morning against Quebec and just tried to carry that through against Team Canada.”
“Obviously, they played very well,” conceded Jones, who curls out of Winnipeg. “We just had the terrible end to the game and that’s not characteristic of us.
“It was a terrible ninth end. I wish we could play it over again but we can’t, so we’ll have to come out sharper tomorrow.”
Jones, who beat Belisle 9-4 in eight ends, is in a three-way tie for second place at 6-3 with fellow Manitoban Jill Thurston and Ontario’s Krista McCarville.
Thurston prevailed 10-5 over McCarville and trimmed Sharon Cormier of the Northwest Territories/Yukon 8-6, but not before Cormier upset McCarville 7-5 in the afternoon draw.
“We’re still in the hunt which is a excellent thing,” McCarville said. “We only have three losses, so it’s still in our control.
“We don’t have to worry about other teams winning or losing for us. It’s still in our hands.”
Ditto for British Columbia’s Kelly Scott and Amber Holland of Saskatchewan, both at 5-4.
Holland, who won a national junior title in 1992, slipped past Scott 5-4 in the morning draw and later stifled Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery 5-2.
Scott, a former world champion and two-time Hearts winner, regrouped in the nightcap, scoring two in the 10th end and the winning point in the 11th in an 8-7 victory over McConnery.
Belisle, meantime, is deadlocked at 4-5 with New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly and Shelley Nichols of Newfoundland and Labrador, followed by Cormier and Alberta’s Valerie Sweeting — both at 3-6 — and McConnery (1-8).
With files from The Canadian Press
