ST. JOHN'S, N.L. —

Sarah Hill and her rink based out the Re/Max Centre (St. John’s Curling Club) will represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the Canadian women’s curling championship in late February.

Hill, Beth Hamilton, Lauren Barron and Adrienne Mercer earned their place at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Feb.19-28 in Calgary by defeating the Mackenzie Mitchell rink, also out of St. John’s, in the weekend provincial women’s championship, which concluded Saturday night at the Re/MaxCentre.

The Mitchell and Hill rinks the only ones entered in this year’s competition, in large part because they were the only teams that could commit travelling to Calgary and following Newfoundland and Labrador's travel restrictions requiring a two-week quarantine on return. As a result, this year's provincial Scotties final was a best-of-five series.

Mitchell, who won the N.L. junior women’s title last year, took the opener 7-5, but Hill rattled off three straight wins — by scores of 8-4, 10-4 and 7-6 (the latter in an extra end) — to claim her first provincial women’s championship.