13
VERNON, B.C. — Jennifer Jones didn't have to worry about a 10th-end miss this time.
She never had a chance to throw.
Jones's foursome fell behind early, rallied late and ultimately fell just short in a 7-5 loss to China's Bingyu Wang in Page playoff action Friday at the Ford world women's curling championship.
The victory moves Wang into Sunday's final, while Canada will need a win over Japan's Moe Meguro in Saturday's semifinal (TSN, 2:30 p.m. ET) to reach the title game. Meguro reached the semifinal by beating Mirjam Ott of Switzerland 6-4 in the other Page playoff game.
Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones waits for start of the quarter-final game against Team China. (Jeff Bassett/CP)
Related Articles
Ott will face the semifinal loser in the bronze-medal game Saturday night (TSN, 9 p.m. ET).
Like Canada's 9-7 round-robin loss to China — where Jones missed a wide-open draw for the win — this one wasn't decided until the final end.
Wang struggled for most of the second half, but it was her sensational tapback to the button in the ninth end that limited Canada to one point when a steal of three appeared likely. The single meant that China still had a two-point advantage entering the 10th end.
Wang said her team was prepared for the worst prior to her final shot of the ninth.
"Before the (shot), we thought about giving them three," said Wang. "It doesn't matter, it'll be a tie game, and we'll have the hammer, so just take it easy and try it. And I got it."
Wang's foursome ran the Canadians out of rocks in the tenth to lead China to its first-ever gold-medal game in front of a tournament-high 2,688 fans at the Greater Vernon Multiplex.
For the second time in four days, Wang was incredulous at having beaten the Canadians.
"I'm so surprised, I don't know how to say it," said Wang. "I'm so happy."
The teams finished with identical 9-2 records in the round-robin, and sat first and second in team percentage. Yet, while the Chinese maintained their efficient play Friday, the Canadians continued their tradition of getting behind in games — something they had done all tournament long.
This time, they couldn't recover.
"We haven't been starting very well," said Jones. "I thought we finished strong. We get to start with the hammer (against Japan), which we like. We'll come out strong."
Jones said her foursome may be at a bit of a disadvantage against the Pacific teams.
"The ice was a little bit different, a little bit straighter," said Jones. "China can get their rocks to curl a little bit more than we can.
"We'll have to figure that out for (Saturday), because Japan's the same way. They can get a little more movement off their rocks."
Canada only started with the hammer three times in the round-robin — and didn't get it against China, either. Fortunately for Jones, the first-end damage was limited when Wang couldn't roll out of the rings with her final shot and was forced to settle for one.
Wang put the pressure on in the second, drawing directly to the face of her own shot stone with her final shot. Jones played a superb angle raise to get rid of one Chinese rock, leaving Wang with a steal of one but avoiding a big end.
Jones couldn't escape a similar fate in the third, giving up a steal of two when a draw with her last shot wrecked on a guard. The Canadians were then held to one in the fourth when Jones failed to get rid of a Chinese stone in the eight-foot — a shot that would have scored three.
Wang scored two more in the fifth when Jones whiffed on a double-takeout attempt, but Canada bounced back with two of its own on a Jones draw to the four-foot.
The teams exchanged singles in the seventh and eighth ends, and China held on from there.
Jones said the team wouldn't dwell on the loss.
"We love to curl, and we get to curl (again)," said Jones.
Ott, who finished third among skips during the round-robin, had her worst game of the tournament at the worst possible time. She shot just 69 per cent in the Page playoff game, allowing three points on steals against a Japanese team that made few mistakes in a pair of Friday victories.
"It was not our best game," said Ott. "We (struggled) in the first three or four ends, so it's quite frustrating, sure.
"We wanted to win. Now gold is over."
Meguro said she had a specific goal coming into the 12-team tournament — and it didn't involve reaching the podium.
"Actually, our goal was six wins before the competition," said Meguro. "But my team's been getting stronger through the round-robin."
It has been a stunningly successful tournament for the Pacific region, which is assured of its first podium finish. The Chinese have never placed better than fifth at a world championship, while Japan will at least equal its previous best result — a fourth-place finish at the 1997 playdowns in Bern, Switzerland.
Wang said she isn't overly sentimental about the possibility of a China-Japan final.
"I hope they can play well," said Wang, "but whoever we face in the final, I don't care."
Meguro qualified for the 3-versus-4 game with a 7-3 win over Denmark's Angelina Jensen in the Friday morning tiebreaker.
