Playoffs set at Scotties as Einarson claims top seed, defending champion Homan unbeaten

Kerri Einarson's curling team from Manitoba claimed a top playoff seed at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts after scrambling hard to get there.

Einarson, who skipped her teams to four straight Canadian women's curling championships from 2020 to 2023, trailed at the fifth-end break in three of her four straight wins to cap pool play.

"We're definitely excited to be in this position because it wasn't looking like that early on in the week," Einarson said Thursday night.

"It definitely hasn't been easy. We haven't made it easy on ourselves. We're trending in the right direction, and I think we're getting hot at the right time."

Einarson, Nova Scotia's Christina Black and Ontario's Danielle Inglis went 6-2 to advance from a tough Pool B and were seeded in that order.

Homan faces Black, and Einarson meets Skrlik on Friday afternoon. The victors advance into Saturday's Page playoff between the top two seeds.

On Friday evening, the loser of Homan versus Black takes on B.C.'s Brown, and the loser of Einarson versus Skrlik faces Inglis.

The winners meet in Saturday's Page playoff between the third and fourth seeds and the losers are eliminated.

Sunday's winner at the Fort William Gardens represents Canada at the world championship March 15-23 in Uijeongbu, South Korea, and earns $100,000 in prize money.

Einarson started the tournament 2-2 before escaping with wins against Kate Cameron and Black when trailing by large margins after five ends.

"When we were tested, we came out and made those clutch shots when we needed," the skip said.

Halifax Curling Club's Black, who reached the final four two years ago in Kamloops, B.C., defeated Cameron 8-6.

"I'm a lot mentally tougher than I was two years ago," Black said. "You just know what