REGINA --  The list of winless teams here at the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was trimmed to zero here Thursday morning when Kerry Galusha’s Northwest Territories were finally rewarded for their perseverance with a victory.

And what a win it was, as the northerners scored three in the ninth end and then stole three more in the tenth end to beat New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud 10-8.

“That was wonderful,” said NWT/Yukon vice-skip Teejay Surik. “We wanted to have one good game underneath us.”

The win means the Territories head into their final round-robin game at 1-9, the same record as New Brunswick.

In other games Thursday morning, Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink guaranteed her team a spot in the page playoff 1 vs 2 game on Friday with an 8-7 win over PEI’s Suzanne Gaudet.

Kleibrink took two in the tenth end and then stole the extra to squeak out the win, which improves her squad to 9-1.

It was the same recipe Newfoundland used in their victory over Nova Scotia. Newfoundland’s Heather Strong scored a game-tying deuce in the tenth end and then stole the extra to defeat Nova Scotia 8-7. The win improves Newfoundland to 7-3, while Nova Scotia falls to 6-4.

In the only other game Thursday morning, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones kept her playoff hopes alive with an 8-4 win over BC’s Allison MacInnes.

It was the the third victory in a row for Manitoba, who face Canada’s Kelly Scott Thursday afternoon in Manitoba’s final round-robin game.

Jones said the recipe for her team to advance to at least a playoff tiebreaker game is simple. “We have to win again this afternoon and hope some other teams lose.”

In addition to Manitoba versus Canada Thursday afternoon, Ontario plays Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan plays PEI and Quebec plays New Brunswick.

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