RED DEER, Alta. - Rachel Homan of Ottawa will be playing in Sunday night's Grand Slam championship final at the Co-op ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥ Open.
Homan, and her crew of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, defeated Jennifer Jones' Manitoba crew 8-3 in six ends in Saturday night's semifinal.
Homan scored three in the first end, gave up two in the second, then counted one in the third followed by a steal of two in the fourth to take control of the match.
Jones scored a single in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-3, but after Homan added two more in the sixth the teams shook hands.
Homan will play Silvana Tirinzoni's Switzerland squad, which scored twice in the bottom of the eighth end to edge Kerri Einarson's crew from Gimli, Man., 6-5.
Tirinzoni, who throws third rocks, has Alina Patz throwing last, second Selina Witschonke and lead Carole Howald.
They scored three in the first against Einarson, but gave up three in the next end. Einarson went ahead 4-3 in the fourth and Tirinzoni tied it 4-4 in the fifth. Einarson scored one in the sixth and Tirinzoni blanked the seventh and won it in the final end with a deuce.
On the men's side, Brendan Bottcher of Calgary advanced to Sunday's men's final with a 5-3 win over Brad Gushue of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Saturday's semifinal. He'll play Bruce Mouat of Scotland who defeated Ross Whyte, also of Scotland, 5-3 in the other semifinal.
This report by ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥was first published Jan. 20, 2024.
