Jennifer Jones ran the table through the first three-and-a-half days of the 2017 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Eric Coy Arena in Winnipeg.

Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen defeated Shannon Birchard of St. Vital 8-6 Saturday afternoon and finished the round robin with a perfect 7-0 record.

That was the only game this week in which the reigning Olympic champions played the entire 10 ends.

"We're happy with the way that game ended," said Jones. "We weren't super sharp but then I felt like we really made some big shots when we had to and hung in the game and found a way to win."

The seven-time Manitoba champion, who has won 16 straight round robin games, will meet Michelle Englot of the Granite in the 1-1 page playoff game (7:45 p.m.) to determine who moves on to Sunday's final and who gets the early morning wake up call to play in the semifinal tomorrow morning.

Jones says they'll have to be sharp against Englot, Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson and Raunora Westcott.

"She's (Englot) a great shooter so we know we're going to have to play really well to have a chance to win. We're just happy to be in the game and hopefully lay it all our there."

Birchard and Cheryl Reed of Brandon had identical 4-3 records and will play a tie-breaker to determine second place in the Black Group.

Birchard, who won back-to-back Manitoba junior championships in 2012 & 2013, feels her team which consists of third Nicole Sigvaldason, second Sheyna Andries and lead Mariah Mondar, has some momentum heading into the tie-breaker after taking Jones to the 10th end today.

"I think everybody played really well and it's definitely encouraging going into tie-breakers and then hopefully playoffs later on tonight."

Reed had a chance to finish alone in second place but dropped a 7-6 decision to Jennifer Briscoe of Thompson.

Briane Meilleur of Fort Rouge could have forced a second tie-breaker but lost 9-2 to Joelle Brown of Assiniboine Memorial.

Briscoe, Meilleur, Brown and Christine MacKay of Fort Rouge were 3-4 while Colleen Kilgallen of East St. Paul finished 1-6.

 

Cheryl Reed could have qualified for the 2-2 page playoff game but lost her round robin finale