GINA AITKEN'S Scottish women beat Hetty Garnier's England team by 7-3 in the last round-robin session of the World Junior Curling Championships here in Tallinn, Estonia yesterday.
This not only concluded their round-robin programme with their sixth win, but also meant they grabbed a place in the Page 1-2 Play-off game, against Canada, with the winner going to the final and the loser having a second chance by way of curing's only semi-final.
The Scots opened well, drawing for one shot in the first end and stealing one more in the second when Garnier left one of two Scottish stones in the house. The Scottish break-through came in the fifth end when Garnier was short with her final draw, handing Scotland a steal of three and a 6-1 half-time lead.
The teams swapped singles for the next three ends, and, in the eighth, when Garnier hit for one to take the score to 7-3 in Scotland's favour, the English conceded. Canada finished the round-robin in top spot and Scotland shared a won six, lost three record with Sweden but took second place on the rankings because of their earlier win over Sweden, by 10-5 on Monday.
After the game, Aitken said, " It feels really good to be in the 1-2 Play-off, it's a nice place to be."
About the fifth end she said, "we just had a few in the house and decided to go a bit more aggressive in that end and keep the pressure on. In the end we got a miss on the last shot. We knew we just had to win and we'd be through to some sort of Page Play-off so we just had to keep concentrating and keep focused for that game."
The women's Page games take place this morning.
RESULTS. World Junior Curling Championships; Tallinn, Estonia. Session 9: Scotland 7, England 3; Estonia 2, Russia 8; Canada 7, Korea 1; Czech Republic 3, Sweden 10; USA 7, Switzerland 3. Standings after 9 sessions: Canada won 9, lost 0 (Q); Scotland (Q), Sweden 6-3 (Q); USA (tie-Breaker for playoff qualification), Switzerland (tie-Breaker for playoff qualification), Korea (tie-Breaker for relegation to Junior-B Championships event), Russia 5-4 (tie-Breaker for relegation to Junior-B Championships event); Estonia, England 2-7; Czech Republic 0-9.
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