CurlingZone: Jones wins Manitoba Scotties

Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones (photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) won 10-5 over Meghan Walter in Sunday's Final.

Jones, with her 5-player team of Mackenzie Zacharias, Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine, will head to Kamloops in February for the nationals and should be one of the favourites going in.

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts will take place February 17-26 at the Sandman Centre.

The partnership between Jones and the young Zacharias team, who won last year's Manitoba Scotties while Jones was chasing Olympic gold, has accelerated the learning curve for the 2020 World Junior champions.

Jones had a direct bye to the final as a result of their perfect 8-0 record through the qualifying rounds, opened the game with two points in the first end.

Walter, still junior-aged herself and skip of Team Ackland, won 8-5 over Winnipeg's Kaitlyn Lawes to advance to the final. Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver and Mackenize Elias round out the foursome as one of the fast-rising teams on the season.

Walter rebounded with two points in the second end, with Jones matching it in the third end to lead 4-2.

After holding Walter to a single in the fourth end, Jones scored two points in the fifth end, then stole two more in the sixth end for a dominant 8-3 lead.

The teams traded deuces in the seventh and eighth ends, though the deficit proved to be too much as Walter, who conceded a 10-5 decision.

Jones went 5-0 through pool play, winning 11-3 over Grace Beaudry of Winnipeg, then dropping Alyssa Calvert of Carberry 8-7. Jones added an 8-2 win over Lisa McLeod of Portage la Prairie, then winning 10-7 against Walter.

/The top three teams advanced to the Championship Pool, where Jones won 12-4 against Winnipeg's Darcy Robertson, then 9-7 over Beth Peterson and 9-5 against Lawes.

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