Team Canada skip Rachel Homan delivers her shotTODD KOROL/Reuters
Rachel Homan's bid for a three-peat is still alive at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The two-time defending champion beat Northern Ontario's Tracy Horgan 6-4 on Friday in a must-win game at Mosaic Place. Homan picked up a steal of two in the ninth end and locked up a berth in the three-four Page Playoff game against Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton with the victory.
"Every game is a new game and everyone is gunning for that final Sunday," Homan said. "Every team is going to be tough and we have to play as well as we can to make it there."
Horgan was a little heavy with a tap attempt on her final throw in the ninth end and it proved costly. She had the hammer in the 10th but Homan ran her out of rocks for the victory.
"They put a bit of pressure on, it was such a junky end," Horgan said of the ninth. "I think we just got caught between two shots. So it hit in the exact wrong spot."
Lawton (8-3) defeated Prince Edward Island's Suzanne Birt 5-4 to claim the third seed. Olympic champion Jennifer Jones (10-1) of Manitoba took the top seed after doubling Alberta's Val Sweeting 10-5.
Sweeting fell to 9-2 and settled for the second seed. Jones and Sweeting will play Friday night in the one-two Page Playoff game with a berth in Sunday's final on the line.
Lawton and Homan (7-4) will play Saturday morning with the winner advancing to the afternoon semifinal against the loser of the one-two game. The semifinal winner qualifies for the final Sunday night.
The semifinal loser falls into Sunday afternoon's bronze-medal game against the loser of the three-four game.
New Brunswick's Sylvie Robichaud defeated Ontario's Julie Hastings 9-5 in the other round-robin game Friday. Horgan finished alone in fifth at 6-5, ahead of Hastings and Nova Scotia's Mary-Anne Arsenault at 5-6.
Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were tied at 4-7 and Quebec's Lauren Mann finished at 3-8.
Patti Knezevic of British Columbia was last overall at 1-9. As a result, B.C. will fall into the qualification round at the 2016 Scotties in Grande Prairie, Alta.
B.C. will be joined by the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, who were both eliminated in this year's inaugural qualification round. Nunavut can also enter a team if it decides to participate.
This was the first time that Northern Ontario had its own team at this event. Horgan won three straight games in this year's qualifier to reach the 12-team main draw.