Einarson wins fourth straight Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson got her four-peat Sunday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris scored five in the ninth end to beat Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones 10-4 in Kamloops to win their fourth straight Canadian women’s curling championship.

The last skip to accomplish that feat was Colleen Jones, who won four in a row from 2001 through ’04.

YOUR FOUR-TIME CANADIAN CHAMPIONS – @EinarsonTeam! 🥇 🥇🥇🥇#STOH2023 pic.twitter.com/HpACjnm3VZ

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) February 27, 2023

The loss kept Jennifer Jones from winning a record seventh Scotties Tournament of Hearts title as a skip. She’s tied with Colleen Jones with six national championships as a skip.

Einarson’s team will represent Canada at the world curling championship, March 18-26 in Sandviken, Sweden.

After the teams traded single points through the first four ends Sunday, Jennifer Jones came up light with her last rock in the fifth and gave up a steal of two. Einarson went into the break with a 4-2 lead.

In the sixth, Jones was light with a last-rock draw again and had to settle for one. But she forced Einarson to take one in the seventh and the three-time defending champions had a 5-3 lead going to the eighth.

The teams had a number of rocks in play in that end, which concluded with Jones scoring one. That led to the pivotal ninth, when Einarson had an open hit for five after Jones missed a raise takeout attempt.

Einarson advanced to the final with a 7-5 victory over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville in the semifinal earlier Sunday. Einarson followed the same path — winning the 3-4 Page playoff game, the semifinal and the final — in 2022.