VICTORIA, February 25, 2009 — B.C.'s Marla Mallett is a step closer to the playoffs at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's curling championship.

Mallett's Vancouver foursome — third Grace MacInnes, second Diane Gushulak and lead Jacalyn Brown — kept their grip on first place in the 12-team round-robin standings with a 9-2 thrashing of Nova Scotia's Nancy McConnery in Draw 13 play at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

The win left B.C. with a 7-1 record, while Nova Scotia lost its eighth straight since a Draw 2 win over Manitoba's Barb Spencer on Saturday.

Mallett's team picked up two steals of three, in the second and fifth ends, en route to the victory.

"It's not that easy," insisted MacInnes. "We've practised and trained and worked very hard this season to be in this position. I think people are more surprised than we are. We've really been building; we came from behind at our zones, we came from behind at our provincials, and here, we kind of thought, who knows, we might come from behind again. But we're not. We've managed to keep the pace going that we'd been building."

Also building pace is Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton, who won her fifth straight game on Wednesday afternoon, taking an extra end to beat Cheryl Bernard of Alberta 7-6.

Saskatchewan found itself down 3-1 through five ends, but fought back with deuces in the sixth and eighth ends, and Lawton didn't have to throw her last rock in the 11th when Bernard was heavy with her draw attempt. Saskatchewan got to 5-3 with the win, while Alberta dipped to 5-4.

"In previous games, we've had a really good front five and kind of lost it in the back five," said Lawton. "We just thought, well, we have to show up for five (ends) somewhere along the way, so it has to be the back half, right?"

The defending champs from Winnipeg had another tough afternoon as Jennifer Jones and Team Canada were doubled 8-4 by Heather Strong of Newfoundland/Labrador. Team Canada gave up three in the fourth end and a steal of two in the fifth, and another stolen deuce in the ninth in falling to 6-3. Newfoundland/Labrador evened out at 4-4.

Meanwhile, Ontario's Krista McCarville kept her playoff hopes alive with a come-from-behind 11-6 triumph over Barb Spencer of Manitoba. Manitoba, losers of four straight, took a 4-3 lead with three in the fifth end, but Ontario fought back with three of their own in the sixth, and a steal of two in the seventh and never looked back. The win evened Ontario's record at 4-4 while Manitoba dropped to 2-7.

P.E.I.'s Rebecca Jean MacPhee (5-3), Quebec's Marie-France Larouche (5-3), New Brunswick's Andrea Kelly (3-5) and Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories/Yukon (3-5) all had byes in Draw 13.

Play at the Scotties wraps up on Wednesday with a 10 p.m. (all times Eastern) draw. On Thursday, round-robin play concludes with draws at 11:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on TSN. The morning draw will also be shown live on TSN.ca As well, archived footage from earlier draws is available from TSN.ca.

The top four teams following the conclusion of round-robin play on Thursday night will make the Page playoffs. The first- and second-place teams will play either Friday or Saturday, with the winner going into Sunday's 8 p.m. championship game on TSN.

The third- and fourth-place teams will play, either Friday or Saturday for a berth in Saturday's 7 p.m. semifinal on TSN against the loser of the Page one-two game.