Thursday, December 6, 2001
Disappointment reigns as King gets heave-ho
By CON GRIWKOWSKY -- Edmonton Sun
REGINA - Cathy King had one word for her showing at this year's Olympic Trials.
"Disappointing,'' she said.
There's reason. King didn't even give herself a chance in a 9-5 loss yesterday morning, handing Marie-France Larouche her first win of the event.
"We had a few misses in eight and nine,'' said King. "We had four complete misses and four half-shots in eight. Our ninth end, was there any shots made? Kate (lead Horne) made her first one.''
That mathematically eliminated King from contention.
It was disappointing in the sense that King scrapped her way into the event, the last team to qualify.
"We know we're not going to make it now, so we just have to play spoiler,'' said King.
It was disappointing considering the early season promise the team showed when it won the Autumn Gold Classic in Calgary.
And it was disappointing the way both King and third Lawnie MacDonald performed.
King simply did not get the type of setup she needed from MacDonald, whose ranking at the bottom of thirds percentage accurately indicated the team's prospects. As a result, King languished at No. 8 among skips.
King could not bounce back from her Sunday night loss to Kelley Law.
"After that game, something happened,'' said King. "We just haven't been curling well since.''
Overall, the week was something less than expected as the team played nowhere near its potential.
"We're still a good team,'' said King. "We know we can play better. We proved that in the Last Chance to get here. We were curling great.
"It's tough when you have four losses and you're scrambling for every inch. You're not in the thick of things. You're not as sharp. It was just typical of our week, the finish here. The last half of our game, we blew it in nine and 10, the same way we did against Kelley.
"I don't know what it is. Maybe we're overthinking it. Sometimes you don't want to be wide, so you're tight. We're overthinking instead of just going out and doing it. We were lucky to be in this top 10 of curlers.''
2002 Games Curling Coverage
