Kristy McDonald of the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg is one win away from capturing her second Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and first as a skip.
McDonald, Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson and Raunora Westcott defeated Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul 7-5 in the 1-1 page playoff game Saturday night at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour.
The eighth end was pivotal as McDonald got four and turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead.
“We got a little fortunate,” said the Granite skip who won her first Scotties playing third for Chelsea Carey in 2014. “Things were going deep and luckily we had a chance. We finally got a break because the fifth end was a tough one.”
Einarson, who was playing in her third straight 1-1 page playoff game, cracked a three-ender in the fifth and had a 3-1 lead at the break.
Einarson will face Shannon Birchard of the St. Vital Curling Club in the semifinal Sunday at 9 a.m.
Birchard, third Nicole Sigvaldason, second Sheyna Andries and lead Mariah Mondor downed Cathy Overton-Clapham of Fort Rouge 7-3 in the 2-2 page playoff game.
“We have all the shots,” said Birchard who is looking forward to playing on Sunday. “Maybe not as much experience as some of these other teams but I think when we all play well we stand a great chance against all of them.”