Tirinzoni wins Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Curling Classic

Silvana Tirinzoni (Aarau, SUI) wins the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic, defeating Jennifer Jones's Winnipeg-based team 5-3 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Team Photo: Facebook) Tirinzoni as skip throwing third stones with Alina Paetz throwing the last stones and Selina Witschonke and Carole Howald on the front end take home the $8,000CDN first place cheque along with 37.5 world ranking points, while Jones receives $5,500CDN and 27.5 world ranking points for their second place finish. Starting with hammer, Tirinzoni scored 1 in the first end, then added a steal in the second end. With Jennifer away, with Chelsea Carey in at skipped the Jones team all weekend, scoring a single in the third end, then forced Tirinzoni to a single in the fourth end. Carey was flanked by regulars Karlee Burgess, originally hailing from nearby Truro, along with Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine on the front end. Tirinzoni blew the game open with a steal 2 in the fifth end, though the Jones team did not go away. Jones scored two in the sixth end to cut the deficit to two, though after a blank in the seventh end, Tirinzoni ran Jones out of stones for a 5-3 win and a perfect 7-0 record on the weekend. The win for Tirinzoni is their third of the season, winning the Women's Masters Basel in Switzerland and the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall in September along with a semifinals finish at the Grand Slam Tour Challenge and posting a 28-4 win-loss record along the way. In the semifinals, Tirinzoni defeated Italy's Stefania Constantini 7-3 and Jones defeated Seungyoun Ha of Korea 9-6. Constantini and Ha earned $4,000CDN and 21.250 ranking points for their semifinal finishes. In the quarterfinals, Jones defeated Vancouver's Clancy Grandy 8-3 and Constantini defeated Christina Black of Halifax 4-3. Tirinzoni finished 4-0 in the 15-team qualifying round. In their opening game, Tirinzoni defeated Tanya Hilliard (Halifax, NS) 8-2, then won 7-2 against Jocelyn Adams (Halifax, NS) and 6-1 against Isabelle Ladouceur (Whitby, ON). Tirinzoni won 5-4 against Black in their final qualifying round match.