New Team Wins Their First Ever Championship
With a new team formation this season, Jolene Campbell led the rookie squad to the 2016 Saskatchewan Viterra Scotties title in Prince Albert. Campbell, accompanied by Ashley Howard, Callan Hamon and Ashley Williamson earned a convincing 7-4 victory over the two time defending champion Stefanie Lawton team from the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon.
The team representing the Highland Curling Club in Regina started out Sunday morning needing 3 wins to earn their title. Facing a strong Michelle Englot team that had blazed through two tie break games to reach the 3-4 game, Jolene made several key runbacks and doubles to put away a 7-5 victory. After a short break the team faced the Robyn Silvernagle team from the North Battleford Twin Rivers Curling Club. The Silvernagle team played a strong game but the Campbell team was building momentum. Even after a Silvernagle steal in the third to go up by one point, the Campbell team immediately rebounded with a big Jolene double and a 3 point score in the 5th end to re-establish a 4-2 lead. The Campbell team, and particularly Jolene, had an answer for every situation the Silvernagle team then put in front of them and the Campbell team went on to earn a 6-4 victory.
Silvernagle, along with Dayna Demers, Christina Goertzen and Kara Kilden, had gone through their pool with 5 straight victories to earn a place in the A1 vs B1 page game on Saturday evening vs Stefanie Lawton. The Silvernagle team continued their strong play and gave Stefanie all she could handle. Likely one of the most exciting games in the entire competition came down to the final skip stones where Silvernagle just missed a double by less than a quarter of an inch allowing Lawton a chance to draw for the second, and winning point. The Lawton team along with Trish Paulsen, Sheri Singler and Marliese Miller, needed a piece of the button for the second point and they put it right on the lid for the victory. The win then placed Lawton in the 5:00PM Final while Silvernagle would return for the 1:00PM semi-final game.
With the Campbell team going out for their third game on Sunday and Lawton having sat all day, it was quickly apparent that the Campbell team was not overwhelmed facing one of Saskatchewan’s most successful women’s teams. Campbell’s team was sharp right out of the gate and the Lawton team was struggling with the swingy ice. A steal of 2 points in the fourth end for Campbell, on a Lawton draw that came up light, put the Campbell team in control with a 5-1 lead. Lawton’s team was forced to one in the fifth and they went to the break down 5-2 without hammer. The stalwart Lawton team though was not going away. They put together a great sixth end and Campbell, facing 3 buried Lawton stones, was forced to raise her own stone that was 2 feet in front of the rings into the four foot. With no hesitation, Howard and Campbell put the broom down and with excellent sweep and line judging, the Campbell stone was raised right to the button for a 6-2 lead.
The Lawton team again tried to get back in the game but it was not until the eighth end that they were able to score a late deuce but this proved to be not enough. Jolene’s team went into the 10th end with a 7-4 lead and ran the Lawton team out of rocks and the dream of a three-peat.
The Campbell team now heads to Grande Prairie for the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts from February 20 – 28th. The team has selected Candace Chisholm as their fifth player and are continuing to search for a coach. Russ Howard has to renounce that responsibility due to TSN broadcasting commitments.
Source: curlsask.ca
