Championship round set at the Manitoba Scotties

Team Ackland will face Team Jones, which remains undefeated at 8-0. (Source: Curl Manitoba)

The drama continued in East St. Paul Sunday morning, after an entertaining championship round finale on Saturday.

It was an interesting and entertaining road to the semis for both rinks. Lawes, who left Team Jones at the end of last season to form her own rink out of Fort Rouge, fell to her former long-time skip, Jennifer Jones, in the final game of the championship round on Saturday.

Team Ackland needed a tie breaking game Saturday night against Team Peterson. The East St. Paul rink put up two three-point ends, forcing Peterson to concede after seven ends, getting another crack at Team Lawes after losing their first matchup..

Sunday’s rematch was nail-biter between these two rinks, as they traded blows until the 9th end.

In the 9th, down 6-5 with the hammer and Ackland sitting one rock on the front four foot circle, just short of the 1-foot circle, Lawes’ shot was a touch heavy, sailing a little too deep in the back half of the four foot, giving Ackland the point by mere inches for the first steal of the game.

In the 10th end, Lawes was sitting shot rock with two stones in scoring position and the hammer. Megan Walters was able to clear both with the last rock of the end, putting pressure on Lawes once again with Team Ackland sitting two.

Lawes jammed her double takeout attempt, giving up two points to Ackland. She finished the game with back-to-back steals, punching her ticket to the final with the 8-5 win.

Ackland now faces Jennifer Jones' St. Vital/Altona rink for the chance to represent Manitoba at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops next month.

One of Ackland’s two losses in the round robin was at the hands of Jennifer Jones, who is the skip for last year’s Manitoba Scotties champs (then Team Zacharias of Altona), a 10-7 loss to wrap up their opening round.

The championship round of the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts begins Sunday at 2 p.m. at the East St. Paul arena, 266 Hoddinott Road.

Tickets and information can be found online.