Einarson books playoff spot at Canadian women's curling championship with rout of N.W.T.

Canada's Kerri Einarson posted a 13-2 win over Nicky Kaufman of the Northwest Territories to secure a playoff spot at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Einarson, from Gimli, Man., scored four points in the second end and never trailed in the round-robin matchup at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

The four-time national women's curling champion improved to 6-1.

"I've been feeling really good," Einarson said. "We only had one game where we were on the wrong side of the inch and we couldn't buy a shot. But that happens sometimes and our last two games we've really come back and been playing well."

Einarson was in second place in Pool A behind Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes (6-0), the lone team to beat the Canada side.

In other early games, Taylour Stevens of Nova Scotia outscored British Columbia's Taylor Reese-Hansen 11-10 in an extra end and Saskatchewan's Jolene Campbell beat Yukon's Bayly Scoffin 10-4.

Ontario's Hailey Armstrong needed an extra end to complete an 8-5 win over Quebec's Jolianne Fortin.

Armstrong, who shot a game-low 63 per cent, had hammer in the 11th and made a game-winning hit for the victory.

"A lot of pressure, the heartbeat is going," Armstrong said. "I'm just happy that I had a hit, to be honest, and just picked it out. We're a drawing team as well but we're a really good hitting team.

"So that was my shot of choice. So I liked that."

Stevens and Armstrong remained tied in third place at 4-2. Campbell was next at 3-3.

The top three teams in each nine-team pool will qualify for the playoffs starting Friday.

Pool B leader Beth Peterson of Manitoba (5-0) was scheduled to meet Kayla Skrlik of Alberta on Wednesday afternoon. Another session was scheduled for the evening.

Nova Scotia's