Kelly Scott has been down same road before, but you wouldn’t know it by the smiles on the faces of the Kelowna skip and her rink mates Sunday night in North Vancouver.
The Scott team made it three consecutive B.C. women’s curling titles with a 6-5 win over Royal City’s Marla Mallett in the championship game at the North Shore Winter Club.
And while Scott, longtime second Sasha Carter and lead Jacquie Armstrong have basked in the glory of a B.C. Scotties win before, it was a first-time triumph for vice-skip Dailene Sivertson.
The 21-year-old from Victoria, who throws second stones for Scott, climbed on board this season—filling in for Jeanna Schraeder—after a successful junior career.
Watching Sivertson taste victory made Scott’s record-setting fifth B.C. Scotties crown special in more ways than one.
“It’s fantastic, it’s beyond our wildest dreams,” said Scott, the 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011, and 2012 B.C. champion. “I remember maybe being in Dailene’s shoes where you wonder if you’ll ever get to a Scotties, and this is more than we could ever ask for.
“And to help Dailene get to her first Scotties the first year out of junior, that’s a real special moment for her teammates.”
After finishing the round robin in top spot at 7-2, the Scott rink lost to Mallett on Friday in the 1-2 Page playoff game.
The Kelowna team then rebounded to beat Kelley Law of Royal City in Saturday’s semifinal.
In the championship game, Scott led 5-3 heading to the ninth end before Mallett made a clutch draw to the four-foot to tie the game 5-5.
In the 10th, after Mallett came up short of the rings on a draw attempt with her final rock, Scott capitalized with an open draw to seal the win.
“It was a nail-biter, for sure,” said Scott. “Marla sure came to play, all the credit to them.
“We really had to work for that win, I’m proud of my girls, they did fantastic.”
Carter, who throws third rocks for the Kelowna team, had been struggling with the flu bug since Thursday, but it wasn’t reflected in her play on Sunday.
Carter curled 89 per cent and set her skip up well numerous times with clutch shots.
“She was on fire,” Scott said of Carter’s play. “She had that draw weight and when you have that confidence in a player, you can call those kinds of shots, she was making freezes and she was solid.
“The whole team was solid.”
The Kelowna curlers will now prepare for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s championship next month in Red Deer.
And despite seven previous trips to the big show, it never gets old for the diminutive Kelowna skip.
“It’s exciting to go back to the national stage and play there again,” Scott said.
In each of the last two Scotties, Scott went 7-4 in the round robin, losing the 3-4 game in 2010, and falling in a tiebreaker last year in PEI to Heather Smith-Dacey.
whenderson@kelownacapnews.com
