Defending champion Julie Hastings made a clutch draw to the button with her last rock in the final end for the winning single to edge Julie Tippin 7-6 at the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Wednesday night in Brampton.
Team Hastings of Thornhill improved to a 3-2 record and moved into a four-way tie for second place in the round-robin standings while Team Tippin of Woodstock dropped to 2-3.
The teams split singles in the first two ends and Tippin added another point in the third. Hastings drew for two points in the fourth end and forced Tippin to another single in five as the game remained tight knotted up 3-3.
Hastings scored another deuce in six and Tippin matched with a pair in seven to keep pace. The rinks alternated singles in eight and nine.
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Elsewhere in Draw 5, Rachel Homan scored a deuce in the 10th and stole a point in the extra end to beat Jenn Hanna 8-7 in an all-Ottawa rink match. Homan, a two-time Canadian champion, remains undefeated so far in the tournament with a 5-0 record to sit atop of the leaderboard while Hanna, the 2005 Ontario winner, slipped to 2-3.
Allison Flaxey (1-4) of Caledon picked up an 8-5 victory over Ottawa’s Erin Morrissey (2-3) as the 2014 Ontario champion earn her first win of the tournament.
Jacqueline Harrison scored three in the 10th end to lift her Mississauga-based team to a 6-4 victory over five-time Ontario winner Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater. Both teams now hold 3-2 records.
Toronto’s Cathy Auld scored a single in the 10th to top Mallory Kean 7-6. Auld is also tied in second place with a 3-2 record while Kean fell to 1-4.
NOTES: Round-robin action continues Thursday at 1 p.m. ET at the Brampton Curling Club (watch on Rogers TV Sports+). … The winner of the event will represent Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts running Feb. 20-28 in Grande Prairie, Alta.