ABERDEEN, Scotland – Team Canada is going for gold.
The Kaitlyn Jones-skipped team, which includes third Kristin Clarke, second Karlee Burgess, of Hilden, and lead Lindsey Burgess, of Truro, edged China 9-7 in a semifinal at the world junior women’s curling championship on Friday.
Lauren Lenentine is the team’s alternate and Andrew Atherton is coach.
“It feels pretty good,” Jones said following the game, on the Curling Canada website. “It was a battle to the end, so we’re lucky to be in the final."
Canada led 5-1 after three ends, however, China took advantage of some Canadian misses to score four in the fifth. In the tenth, with Canada leading 8-7 and lying two, Wang tried a run-back double for the win but jammed, giving up a single.
Jones will meet Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa in the gold-medal game Saturday, which begins at 5 a.m. Atlantic time.
Sweden defeated Norway 9-3 in eight ends in the other Friday semifinal.
Sweden earned the top ranking in the playoff round after running the table in the round-robin with a 9-0 record. Canada was second at 7-2. Sweden defeated Canada 8-6 in preliminary play on Thursday.
“Sweden are not an easy target for sure, but we had a really good game against them yesterday and maybe if we come out firing against them tomorrow we can put up a good game,” said Jones.
The gold medal game will be streamed live on the World Curling Federation YouTube channel at 5 a.m. Atlantic time.
In the men's division, Canada's Tyler Tardi meets the U.S. in a semifinal on Friday, while Scotland faces Switzerland in the other semifinal matchup.
