REGINA -- Alberta improved to 5-0 and Canada fell to 1-4 here at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Monday evening.

Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and then battled to a 9-4 victory over Canada’s Kelly Scott, the two-time defending champion at this event and the reigning world champion.

The win means Calgary’s Kleibrink remains the only undefeated team in the field, while Kelowna’s Scott is now in serious jeopardy of not making Friday’s page playoffs.

Scott struggled mightily in the early ends against Alberta as she searched for her draw weight. Alberta steals of one in the fourth end and two in the fifth end both came as a result of Scott’s difficulties in finding the house with her draws.

But just like they did against Nova Scotia earlier in the day -- whom they also trailed 6-1 at one point -- Canada battled back gamely.

In the Nova Scotia game, Scott forced Nova Scotia skip Mary-Anne Arsenault to draw the four-foot with the last rock of the game to preserve a 7-5 victory.

Against Alberta, Scott narrowed the Alberta lead to 6-4 before Kleibrink finally sealed the deal with a three in the ninth end.

In other games, Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh beat Kerry Galusha’s Northwest Territories/Yukon 9-4 to improve to 4-1. The Territories remain winless at 0-5.

Ontario heads into Tuesday tied for second place with Newfoundland and Labrador, who defeated Quebec 11-8 Monday evening to also improve to 4-1. Quebec dropped to 3-2.

In the only other game of the evening, Saskatchewan’s Michelle Englot won her third in a row, dropping BC’s Allison MacInnes 5-3. Saskatchewan heads into Tuesday at 3-2, tied for fourth with Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia. BC falls to 2-3.

The round-robin officially passes the halfway point Tuesday morning when Newfoundland plays Canada, BC plays Ontario, NWT/Yukon plays Saskatchewan and Alberta plays Quebec.

-30-