Alberta's Sturmay stays undefeated, clinching playoff spot at Tournament of Hearts

Alberta's Selena Sturmay improved to 6-0 and clinched a playoff spot at the Canadian women's curling championship with a 10-9 extra-end win over Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville in Wednesday's opening draw.

Sturmay came back from a 6-1 deficit after four ends, and a steal of three in the ninth end put the Albertans up 9-7.

McCarville (3-3) responded with two in the 10th to force the extra end, but Sturmay made the most of having the hammer in the 11th and came out with a win.

With two Pool A draws left, Sturmay can finish no worse than second in the group. Four-time defending champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., who was idle Wednesday morning, is second in the pool at 5-1.

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In other scores, rookie Saskatchewan skip Skylar Ackerman took sole possession of third place in the pool at 4-3 with a 9-6 win over Newfoundland and Labrador's Stacie Curtis (1-5).

Prince Edward Island's Jane DiCarlo fell to 0-7 with a 10-6 loss to Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes (3-3) and British Columbia's Corryn Brown downed Quebec's Laurie St-Georges 8-3. Both teams are 3-3.

The top three teams in each pool after Thursday's final draw advance to Friday's six-team playoff round, from which Saturday's four Page playoff teams will be determined.

Tiebreaker games have been eliminated from the format. Head-to-head results followed by cumulative draw-to-the-button scores that precede each game solve ties.

The winner of Sunday's final represents Canada at the world championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S., and earns a return trip to the 2025 Scotties Tournament