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Two local teams qualify for Scotties

The Power Dodge Curling Centre hosted the Last Chance Qualifying Bonspiel for the upcoming Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s provincial curling championships in Melville, and it proved to be a great weekend for two teams with local connections.

The Power Dodge Curling Centre hosted the Last Chance Qualifying Bonspiel for the upcoming Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s provincial curling championships in Melville, and it proved to be a great weekend for two teams with local connections.

The Last Chance event was held from Friday to Sunday, with eight teams entered in the triple knockout elimination draw. Three teams advanced to provincials.

The Shalon Fleming rink, which consists of lead Jasmine Kerr, second Sherrilee Orsted, third Candace Newkirk and skip Fleming, defeated Jessica Mitchell’s rink 8-4 in the A final of the bonspiel Saturday afternoon. Most of the Fleming rink is from the Estevan area.

Fleming held a 4-1 lead through five ends, but the Mitchell rink pulled to within 5-4 by the end of the eighth end with a score of two. Fleming scored once in the ninth and stole two in the 10th to pull away once again.

Their first game was actually the toughest, as they won 9-8 in 11 ends over Brett Barber’s rink. Team Fleming trailed 8-5 through eight ends, but they scored two in the ninth and stole one in each of the 10th and 11th ends.

Then they routed Jade Bloor 12-1 to reach the A final. Bloor’s only point came in the third end, to make it a 3-1 game. Then Fleming scored two in the fourth, and stole seven points between the fifth to seventh ends to end the game.

Rae Ann Williamson, who is from Estevan, had to qualify the hard way through the C event. Her rink defeated Mitchell 9-2 Sunday in the C final.

Williamson stole four in the second and one in the third to lead 5-0.

It was a 6-2 lead for Williamson through six ends, but then Williamson scored three in the seventh, leading to the teams shaking hands early.

Williamson opened the tournament with an 8-7 win over Mandy Selzer, with the big score coming in the third end when Williamson scored four to lead 5-2. But the game was tied 7-7 after nine ends, and Williamson scored the winning point in the 10th frame.

Then there was an 8-3 loss in eight ends to Mitchell and a 7-4, nine-end loss to Sherry Just, a game that Williamson led 4-3 through seven ends. It left Williamson in the C event, one loss away from elimination.

But she rallied with three straight wins in must-win games. First there was a 10-7 win over Bloor, a game that Williamson trailed 3-1 through three ends. It was a back and forth contest, but Williamson scored three in the eighth and two in the 10th for the win.

Then there was a 10-4 victory over Just. Williamson had scores of four in the third and three in the fifth to put early distance between her and Just.

Their final win was the convincing victory over Mitchell in the C final.

Other members of the Williamson rink team were local curler Alex Meyer, who was their third, Chantel Martin (second) and Amanda Kuzyk (lead).

Selzer claimed the other qualifying spot, defeating Mitchell 7-2 in the B final.