Kristy McDonald of the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg is one win away from capturing her second Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and first as a skip.

McDonald, Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson and Raunora Westcott defeated Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul 7-5 in the 1-1 page playoff game Saturday night at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour.

The eighth end was pivotal as McDonald got four and turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead.

“We got a little fortunate,” said the Granite skip who won her first Scotties playing third for Chelsea Carey in 2014. “Things were going deep and luckily we had a chance. We finally got a break because the fifth end was a tough one.”

Einarson, who was playing in her third straight 1-1 page playoff game, cracked a three-ender in the fifth and had a 3-1 lead at the break.

Einarson will face Shannon Birchard of the St. Vital Curling Club in the semifinal Sunday at 9 a.m.

Birchard, third Nicole Sigvaldason, second Sheyna Andries and lead Mariah Mondor downed Cathy Overton-Clapham of Fort Rouge 7-3 in the 2-2 page playoff game.

“We have all the shots,” said Birchard who is looking forward to playing on Sunday. “Maybe not as much experience as some of these other teams but I think when we all play well we stand a great chance against all of them.”



The Manitoba Curling Media Association announced the 2016 Scotties All-Stars Saturday night at the Sun Gro Centre. Winnipeg Sun curling reporter Jim Bender presented the awards of the Association to lead Raunora Westcott, second Katherine Doerksen, third Selena Kaatz and skip Shannon Birchard