Rachel Homan wins way into Tournament of Hearts championship round

Ontario's Rachel Homan reached the championship round at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with a 5-3 win Thursday over New Brunswick's Andrea Kelly.

Homan's 5-2 record with a game to play secured the third and final playoff spot in Pool B behind Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville (7-1) and Manitoba's Jennifer Jones (6-1).

The top three teams in each pool of nine teams advance to Friday's championship round. Tiebreaker games will solve ties for third.

The championship round determines Saturday's four Page playoff teams.

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Defending champion Kerri Einarson (7-0) will advance as the top seed in Pool A, but the race behind her to keep playing beyond the preliminary round was still going on Thursday.

Quebec's Laurie St-Georges (5-2) had a game remaining against Nova Scotia's Christina Black in a four-way tie at 4-3 with Alberta's Kayla Skrlik, B.C.'s Clancy Grandy and Kaitlyn Lawes' wild card 1 team.

Einarson's 9-8 win over Skrlik in the morning draw dropped Alberta into the logjam.