Team comes first for Jones foursome

KAMLOOPS — Rotating in and out of the lineup isn’t easy, but it’s a much easier pill to swallow when you’re asked to do it because the greatest women’s curler of all time joined your team.

“Way easier,” said Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine in unison during a joint interview with the Free Press.

When Jennifer Jones decided to join a promising group of twentysomethings — Mackenzie Zacharias, Karlee Burgess, Emily, and Lenentine — from Altona Curling Club this past off-season, it meant someone had to be the odd person out. Instead of trimming the roster, they stuck with five and have had Emily, 21, and Lenentine, 22, alternate at lead all season long.

They’ve clearly made it work, as the five-person unit claimed the Manitoba provincial crown last month and is currently 5-1 at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops after earning victories on Tuesday against the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

“They’re mature beyond their years. They’re young girls but have that maturity to understand that’s what’s going to make the team better,” said Glenn Howard, who’s coaching Jones at the Canadian women’s curling championships this week.

“Lauren and Emily have absolutely embraced the fact that it’s all about the team and that they will sit for the betterment of the team and vice versa. But what I’m really impressed with is they’ll sit a day, or sit a game, and then come in and light it up. It’s not as if they’re rusty or bitter or anything. I’m really impressed with how they’ve handled it because it’s not easy. No one wants to sit.”

For only the second time this season, Emily and Lenentine took the ice together Tuesday afternoon. Mackenzie, Emily’s older sister, took a breather in the afternoon draw to watch Manitoba take down Yukon’s Hailey Birnie 10-5.

Mackenzie, who skipped the original four to a gold medal at the 2020 world juniors, has also had to adjust as she’s moved to second to allow Jones to throw the final rocks.

Despite playing the same position, the leads don’t see it as a competition. They’re happy to see each other have success in the role.

“We never actually see it that way. We’re playing our part on the team and we love getting to share that together,” said Emily.

“Yeah, it’s kind of nice to have two people share the role. We can bounce ideas off each other and we have the same perspective of the game, so it almost makes it easier,” said Lenentine.

You’d assume it’d be hard to get into a rhythm when you sit every second game, but Emily and Lenentine say that’s not the case.

“I think at the start it was a little difficult, but we’ve done it most of the year. We’ve kind of learned how to just trust what the girls are telling us about the feel of the ice and how it’s curling,” said Lenentine.

“I think it’s made us better for it because we know how to just get in the hack and throw that type of weight.”

It also doesn’t hurt that whoever is out gets to sit and learn from a four-time world champion in Howard.

“I think my whole perspective of the game has kind of taken a 180,” said Emily.

“Strategy wise, sweep management wise, we’ve gained so much from sitting with him and talking through it.”

Jones has trusted both in big moments this year. Lenentine played the inaugural PointsBet Invitational final in October —a game that had a $50,000 cheque on the line — and Emily helped the team earn the right to wear the Buffalo as she suited up in the provincial final in East St. Paul against Meghan Walter. They’ve been able to stick to the schedule and not make any difficult decisions.

Lenentine is off to a better start this week by curling at 91 per cent. Emily is shooting 79 per cent.

“Luckily for us, we haven’t had to decide (between them) because they’ve both been playing really well. So, right now, we’ve been alternating back and forth, and we’ll see how it goes,” said Jones.

“You never know. We kind of play it day by day, but for the most part we want to make sure they get fairly equal playing time.”

After losing 11-8 in their opener to Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville, Jones has rattled off five straight wins to reach the top of Pool B. Jones returns to the ice Wednesday morning to take on Wild Card no. 2 Casey Scheidegger. The 18-team field shrinks to six on Friday with the top three teams from each pool advancing to the championship round.

McCarville was 4-1 going into Tuesday night’s late draw against Kerry Galusha (3-2) of the Northwest Territories.

Jones beat Galusha 10-8 Tuesday morning. Galusha fought back after surrendering five points in the third end to make things interesting.

“That first game we felt like we had control and played really well actually,” said Lenentine. “So, coming off it, it was a tough loss, but we knew there were a ton of positives to build on and I think we’ve proved that throughout the week that we’re getting better and better with each game.”

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Twitter: @TaylorAllen31