It didn’t start the way they had planned, but two Royal City Curling Club rinks are both in the hunt at the Scotties B.C. Women’s curling championships in Coquitlam.
The Amy Gibson rink and Diane Gushulak rink are part of the eight-team championship, hosted by the Coquitlam Curling Club.
Both teams dropped their first two games, including opening rounds on Tuesday, before getting into the win column.
As of Thursday 4 p.m., Gushulak has rallied with two wins -- an 8-4 victory over Gibson late Wednesday and a 7-2 win over Wark.
The victory over Gibson saw Team Gushulak break a seesaw game with four in the ninth.
Team Gibson, meanwhile, recorded its first decision early Thursday with a huge rally to hand two-time national champion Kelly Scott's rink its first defeat of the competition. The Royal City rink scored four over the last three ends for a 9-7 win over the Kelowna squad.
On opening day, Gibson fell 9-7 to Victoria’s Wark team in extra ends, after rallying from a rough start. Wark built up a 5-0 lead over the first three ends, and nurtured a 7-2 advantage entering the seventh frame.
That’s where the Gibson crew — which includes fourth Lindsay Hudyma, third Rebecca Turley, second Michelle Dunn and Gibson at skip — launched an impressive comeback that saw them tie it in the 10th. Wark scored two in f the 11th to take the win.
Wednesday morning saw Gibson grab an early 3-1 edge before Nanaimo’s Kesa Van Osch turned the tables en route to a 7-5 decision.
The Gushulak team — featuring third Grace McInnes, second Jessie Sanderson, lead Sandra Comadina and skip Gushulak — were tied with Scott midway through the seventh when the Kelowna rink put up three and held on for a 6-3 decision.
A day later, the Royal City foursome staked out a 4-1 lead on Kamloops’ Karla Thompson before the Interior rival replied with four to lead-off the fourth end.Thompson would roll to a 9-5 win, joining Scott and Wark with a 2-0 record. With the one more game to come Thursday, Gushulak sits at 2-2, tied for third place, while Gibson, at 1-3 is tied for sixth spot.
Action continues Friday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. prior to the playoffs. Follow the action at playdowns.com.
