The diminutive B.C. skip clinched top spot in the round-robin and last-rock advantage to start any playoff games with a pair of wins yesterday at the Scott Tournament of Hearts.

Scott and her rink of Jeanna Schraeder, Sasha Carter and Renee Simons became the first to secure a playoff spot with a 7-5 morning win over Jennifer Jones of Team Canada.

They then finished atop the standings with a 9-2 mark after an 8-4 win over Cathy King of Alberta. That meant a place in the 1-2 Page playoff game today at 1 p.m., against Colleen Jones of Nova Scotia, with the winner advancing to Sunday's final.

A year ago, she was second in the round-robin at the Hearts in St. John's with an 8-3 record, but went 0-2 in the playoffs. Scott then lost the Olympic trials final to Shannon Kleibrink, who went on to win bronze in Turin.

"We're a young team. We play for fun, for the love of the game and for the love of being out on the ice together," she said. "If anything, the trials taught us a lesson, that you've got to experience things to learn from them and as long as you do learn from them, then you can move on.

The remainder of the playoff picture wasn't decided until after three games last night with more twists than a pretzel factory. When the dust settled, Team Canada and Nova Scotia were 8-3, with Nova Scotia getting second on the basis of its round-robin win over Jennifer Jones.

Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Eve Belisle of Quebec tied for fourth at 7-4 and meet in a tiebreaker at 8:30 this morning, with the winner playing Team Canada in the 3-4 game today at 7 p.m.

Last night, Jennifer Jones won a wild 9-7 game with King, who wound up 6-5; Belisle shaded Colleen Jones 8-6 and Strong fell 9-7 to Krista Scharf (4-7) of Ontario, who scored three in the 10th.

"I knew my team, we just never give up. But when Colleen had that shot for three in the eighth, I never dreamed we'd steal two," said Belisle, grateful for the help she needed to stay alive. "I hate to wish anyone to lose, especially Newfoundland because they're our friends. But I guess this was meant to be.

"We were a bit sloppy and we gave them a gift in the eighth, but they're a great team and it's wonderful to see new faces at the Hearts," she said. "We just have to go on a roll now. The playoffs are a whole new day, a whole new game."

"It was very frustrating and disappointing that we didn't play well. They did and that's curling. That's what makes it exciting for the fans.

"We just didn't execute. We tightened up. I thought we'd come back and maybe we could have had it been a 12-end game. But we simply didn't put any rocks in the right place for 10 whole ends."

The Team Canada-Alberta game was fraught with missed shots as the lead changed hands four times. King appeared to have taken control with a steal of two in the seventh for a 7-5 lead, but gave up steals of one in each of the final two ends to see her playoff hopes evaporate.

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