REGINA -- Kerry Galusha’s Northwest Territories/Yukon gave Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault all they could handle here at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Tuesday night.

But in the end, it was the same unfortunate result for the northerners, who fell to 0-7 with a narrow 9-8 loss to Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia improved to 5-2 with the win, putting them in a tie with Quebec and Newfoundland for third place at 5-2.

Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink, who pasted Manitobe 10-3 Tuesday evening, shares first place with Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh heading into Wednesday. Both teams are at 6-1.

Galusha, who switched positions with third Teejay Surik for both the Territories’ games on Tuesday, looked to be on the verge of what would have been the biggest upset of the week.

Leading 8-7 in the tenth end, Surik attempted to bury her last rock behind cover and a Nova Scotia counter, but the effort sailed to the back of the house. That left Arsenault needing to do little more than draw the eight-foot with the last rock of the end to score two and escape with the one-point victory.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland’s Heather Strong stole the extra end against New Brunswick to also win 9-8 and improve to 5-2. New Brunswick fell to 1-6. In the only other game Tuesday evening, BC’s Allison MacInnes stole the tenth end to beat PEI’s Suzanne Gaudet 6-5. BC improved to 3-4, PEI fell to 1-6.

For Jones, the loss to Alberta -- the team's fourth in five games -- puts her team in the same predicament as another pre-event favourite, Canada’s Kelly Scott.

Both teams were widely expected to be around come the page playoffs this Friday, but they now share the same 3-4 record and both will now need to win each of their final four games to control their playoff destinies.

“The best we can do now is go out and win the rest of our games and if it gets us in, it gets us in,” said Manitoba second Jill Officer.

If there’s a silver lining for Canada right now, it’s that they’re on a two-game winning streak heading into Wednesday after victories Tuesday over Newfoundland and New Brunswick.

“Today it just felt easier for some reason,” said Scott, whose team opened this competition with a 1-4 record.

The Scotties resumes Wednesday morning when PEI plays NWT/Yukon, New Brunswick plays Alberta, Manitoba plays Newfoundland and Nova Scotia plays BC.

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