A dramatic shot by Jill Officer helped Team North America avoid disaster at curling's Continental Cup on Saturday.
The longtime second for Jennifer Jones made a spectacular clutch takeout in the eighth and final end of a mixed doubles game that removed Team World's counters and ended up biting the button.
Team World's Nicole Schwagli was unable to remove the stone, resulting in a stolen single point and a 6-5 victory.
The other two games went to Team World on Saturday morning, giving Team World a 14-10 lead in the overall standings.
"Oh my God, it was amazing. I was so nervous," Officer said. "I'm not used to throwing last rock and my muscles were shaking in the hack. Even when I started to move in my delivery, I could feel my legs shaking. I was just glad I slid good and right at the broom, and that we wiggled it in there for shot."
It capped an entertaining morning that saw the lineups on each sheet shuffled after the first four ends, to give all players a chance to play in the mixed doubles format.
Officer and Matt Hamilton finished off the win against Schwagli and Jialiang Zang. Team World's Nadine Lehmann and Kristian Lindstrom were leading John Shuster and Dawn McEwen of Team North America 3-2.
In the other games, Team World's Niklas Edin and Anna Ohmiya were 8-4 winners over Team North America's Kevin Koe and Joanne Courtney. Through four ends, Team World's Sarah Reid and Havard Vad Petersson were up 4-2 on North America's Lisa Weagle and Nolan Thiessen.
"It was entertaining; it was for a little bit of bragging rights," said Thiessen, of the all-leads battle for half a game. "We clearly screwed up a few times. I guess we need skips after all because they're out there telling us what to do, and that's what we need sometimes."
Also, Team World's Jinbo Wang and Ayumi Ogasawara rolled past North America's John Landsteiner and Allison Pottinger 9-3. They took over after Team World's Kaho Onodera and Dexin Ba took a 3-1 lead after four ends against Pat Simmons and Nicole Joraanstad.
The two sides were set to play two more rounds of traditional team games on Saturday before the two skins rounds on Sunday, which will have more points on the line.
"We just have to get the momentum going in the right direction, and maybe Jilly's shot did that," said Thiessen. "I've played in a few of these and momentum is huge. Now maybe the rest of us will start hanging a few more points on the board and make this thing really entertaining tomorrow."
Team North America has won the past three editions of the World Financial Group Continental Cup.
A total of 60 points are available over the four days of competition in traditional team, mixed doubles and skins competition, with the first team to surpass 30.5 points declared the winner.
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