The St. Albert rink skipped by Karen Stephen finished the Northern Alberta Curling Association women’s playdowns with a winless record.
Stephen, third Nicole Bellamy, second Kristina Hadden and lead Audra Lindsey lost 5-4 to Lindsay Makichuk of Lloydminster in the A event, Chana Martineau of the Saville Centre in the B event and 7-5 to Makichuk in the C event.
The only deuce in the first game by Makichuk made it 4-2 in six and then the teams traded singles before Stephen ran out of rocks without the hammer in 10.
The next game, a three-ender in four put Stephen on top 4-1 before Martineau, who switched positions with second Deanne Nichol on the eve of northerns because of a bad back, counted four in five and stole singles in the next four ends.
The last game was knotted at four when Makichuk scored one in six and stole singles in seven and eight before Stephen replied with one in nine.
In the C final Monday, Martineau knocked off Makichuk 7-4 in an extra end.
The Stephen foursome was formed to bump up the entries to six teams at northerns. Last year’s northerns featured nine teams.
Stephen and Bellamy are longtime St. Albert curlers, Hadden is the alternate on Stephen’s team in the St. Albert ladies league and curled at northerns before with Kelly Erickson. Lindsey has also played in the Peace playdowns and is the assistant icemaker at the St. Albert club.
The road back to the Alberta Scotties for St. Albert skip Karynn Flory ended in the C event Sunday at the Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns.
The 10-6 loss to Chana Martineau left the Avonair lineup of Flory, third Richelle Nanninga, second Sydney Lewko and lead Katie Roskewich with three wins and three losses at the St. Albert Curling Club.
In the A event Saturday, Flory posted wins of 9-3 in nine ends to Martineau and 7-2 in eight ends to Jessie Kaufman of the Avonair before falling 11-7 in nine ends to Jessie’s sister, Nicky, also of the Avonair.
Nicky tacked up a three spot in the second, seventh and ninth ends. Her steal of one in five made it 5-4.
Flory also played three games Sunday and won 9-7 against Martineau before losing the B-event final to Jessie 11-8 and the C-event game to Martineau.
In the B final, Kaufman stole one in six to lead 6-5 and in 10 scored four. She was sitting one with the hammer in the last end before pulling out the win in the marathon affair that lasted more than three hours.
Flory made a big shot with last rock to count three in four to go-ahead 5-4 and again in seven for a deuce to lead 7-6 but in nine was light on a draw and settled for one to lead 8-7.
A steal of four by Martineau in eight after scoring a deuce in seven was the difference in the third contest with Flory.
Last year at northerns, Flory’s entry of Nanninga, Amanda Moizis and Roskewich qualified out of the B event and finished 0-3 at the Scotties.
Flory also curls for the NAIT Ooks and the 2013 Alberta junior champion was honoured as the 2015 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s curler of the year.
