All week long, Kelly Scott was second-best to Coquitlam's Kelley Law.
But the defending provincial champion from Kelowna found a way to win over the final five ends of Sunday's final, coming from behind for a 5-3 victory at the Scotties B.C. women's curling championships at the Cloverdale Curling Club.
"We were happy when the score was close after five, and still close at the end," said Scott. "That's what you hope for in the final, a chance to win."
Scott clung on to that chance for the first half of Sunday's contest, and trailed 2-1 at the break. She scored a pair in the sixth end to take the lead, and the two curlers then exchanged singles.
Law blanked the ninth end, hoping to score a pair in the 10th.
But with her opponent sitting three, Law's attempt to draw for one with her final shot was long by just inches, handing Scott her second straight Scotties title.
The result was a surprise to many. While Scott qualified as the defending champion, Law topped the B.C. standings in the Canadian Team Ranking System to earn the second automatic berth.
Although the two rivals finished one-two in the standings -- Law at 8-1 with Scott at 7-2 -- the former dominated the head-to-head competition.
Curling out of the Royal City Curling Club, Law -- with third Jody Maskiewich, second Shannon Aleksic and lead Darah Provencal -- handed Scott a pair of one-sided losses earlier in the week, winning 9-3 in the third draw of the round robin last Tuesday, then posting a 9-2 victory in the first game of the Page playoff Friday.
But Scott and her team -- which also included third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Jacquie Armstrong -- shook off those two setbacks.
"We didn't feel bad about our two losses," Scott said. "They nailed it to us on the scoreboard, but we didn't feel we played that badly. That's what you have to carry into the final."
Gradually getting better as the week went along, Scott said lessons learned in Cloverdale will help when her team competes at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national championship Feb. 19-27 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She placed fourth last year in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
"This week, we worked out a few things. It was slick ice conditions, but every day we adapted a bit better," she said. "Our slides and our techniques got better and better each day. That's what we struggled with at Canada Cup. We did better with it here, and hopefully do that much better again when we're on the arena ice in PEI."
Roselyn Craig of Duncan placed third, going 6-3 in the round robin before edging Kristy Lewis 7-6 in a quarterfinal game. Craig then dropped a 7-4 decision to Scott in Saturday's semifinal.
Lewis, from Richmond, qualified for the playoff by defeating New Westminster's Adina Tasaka 6-5 after both curlers were 5-4 in round robin play.
