By: Murray McCormick

PENTICTON, B.C. — Mary-Anne Arsenault has rolled into Sunday’s semifinal at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Arsenault stretched her winning streak to nine games at the Canadian women’s curling championship with a 6-2 over Northern Ontario’s Tracy Fleury in Saturday’s 3 vs. 4 Page Playoff game.
Arsenault is expected to play the loser of Saturday’s 1 vs. 2 Page Playoff game between Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones and Team Wild Card Kerri Einarsson in the semifinal. The winner between Jones and Einarsson advances to Sunday’s final and plays the winner of Sunday’s semifinal.
However, Jones and Einarsson were the only skips to have defeated Arsenault at this year’s Scotties.
“In the game against Jennifer, we didn’t play well,’’ Arsenault said. “In the game against the Wild Card team, my team didn’t play well. If we played like we did (on Saturday) we’ll be right in it.’’
Arsenault was particularly sharp Saturday curling at 97 per cent. Fleury, who struggled with her draw weight, shot just 74 per cent.
“The ice was a little quicker in this game than I thought it would be and it took me too long to catch on to it,’’ Fleury said. “By the time I did, it was too late.’’
Arsenault is bidding to win her first national women’s championship since 2004 when she was a second with Team Canada’s Colleen Jones.
“It’s quite different (in 2018), but having the experience is helpful with the nerves,’’ the 49-year-old Arsenault said. “I was definitely nervous (Saturday) morning. That wasn’t anything compared to when we started making finals back in the day. I’m a much calmer player now.’’

mmccormick@postmedia.com

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