(CP)
Thursday, March 27, 2008

VERNON, B.C.—Jennifer Jones would have loved a chance to atone for Tuesday’s mistake against China.
Thanks to solid play from the rest of her team, she didn’t have to.

The Canadian skip earned a pair of victories yesterday at the Ford world women’s curling championship—improving her record to 8-1 and vaulting her rink into a share of first place with China.
Both Canada and China have clinched playoff spots.
Canada opened the day with a 7-4, 11-end victory over Japan’s Moe Meguro, then followed with an 8-6 triumph over Gail Munro of Scotland.
Jones, lead Dawn Askin, second Jill Officer, and third Cathy Overton-Clapham were efficient when they needed to be—seizing control after key mistakes from their opponents.
“We made some big shots, and we did capitalize when they missed,” said Officer. “I think that that’s important. When you capitalize on your opposition’s misses, you’re going to come out on top.”
Tied 6-6 through nine ends and facing two Canadian stones deep in the rings, Munro tried to glance off a rock and lie shot stone with her final rock.
But her shot was off-line and deflected out of the house, handing Canada the victory.
A day after running her game-winning draw through the rings in a loss to China, Jones showed no apprehension. Her draws were near-perfect against Japan—forcing Meguro to make tricky shots just to avoid a big steal.
Jones also benefited from a critical error in her game against Munro. Leading 2-0 but facing three Canadian stones in the third end, Munro tried a double-takeout but sailed her final shot well past.
That left Jones to draw for a four-spot—and she made no mistake.
Canada could have ended things three ends later, but Jones misfired on a raise take-out that would have scored five. She settled for one, but didn’t regret her choice afterward.
“It wouldn’t make it, but we kind of battled there,” said Jones. “We made sure we had hammer coming home, which is all we really wanted.”
Canada’s third-straight victory came just moments before China’s Bingyu Wang suffered her first loss of the tournament—a 9-7 defeat to Mirjam Ott of Switzerland.
The Chinese (8-1) own the tie-breaker over Canada, but Jones knows two more victories will earn her a spot in the 1-versus-2 Page playoff showdown regardless of what Wang does.
“We’re in the driver’s seat,” said Jones. “We control our own destiny, which is always what you want.”
Wang, whose foursome has been the surprise of the tournament so far, looked ordinary in a loss to Ott (7-2). She made a rare mistake with her final shot in the eighth end, drawing into a bunch of Swiss stones but leaving her own exposed.
Ott, the 2006 Olympic silver-medallist, calmly tapped the Chinese rock out of the rings to score five points and take the lead for good.