Cinnamon wins second straight gold in USports curling

Team Gray-Wither, which includes Cochrane's Zoe Cinnamon, has won its second consecutive USports Women's Curling Championship.

The UAlberta Pandas rink marched undefeated through seven round-robin draws and two playoff games to repeat, ending their university season 14-0.

"This one was just awesome because we prepared so much for this one," says Cinnamon. "We really knew that this was an event that we wanted to come in and win, so we kind of based our season around trying to peek at this time."

She says they felt confident heading into the semifinals and finals on Mar. 16 after going undefeated in the round-robin.

In the final, Waterloo stole the opening two ends to take an early 2-0 lead before Gray-Withers drew for two in the third to even the score. Waterloo regained a short-lived one-point lead in the fourth. Pandas had a huge three-pointer in the fifth to go ahead 5-3 and retained the lead for the balance of the draw, winning 8-4.

In the semifinals, they defeated the Dalhousie Tigers, 8-3. whom they overcame in their last draw of the round-robin, 7-6.

"We knew that Dalhousie was one of the best teams coming into the championship and that was our last round-robin game, so that was a nice one to finish off with the win, because the first half of that game was really tight. We definitely rallied the second half of the game and just brought it back."

To advance to the national bonspiel, they went 5-0 to win Canada West.

With second Brianna Cullen graduating early, Cinnamon says they likely won't be competing together in USports next season, but they plan to continue as a team.

Team Gray-Wither started the season by winning the U25 NextGen Classic, which provided them with funding and saw them included as part of a national training program. They are currently ranked 25th in the world.

"We've had a really good couple of seasons together, so the plan is hopefully stick together for a few more years and see what we can do, hopefully making our way into the Grand Slam or the Scotties sometime soon."

Skip is Serena Gray-Wither, third is Catherine Clifford, Brianna Cullen is second and Cinnamon is lead. 

The team wraps up their season at in the Best of the West in Saskatoon, Apr. 4 to 7. It features the rising stars of curling in Western Canada.

Skip is Serena Gray-Wither, third is Catherine Clifford, Brianna Cullen is second and Cinnamon is lead. 

The team wraps up their season at in the Best of the West in Saskatoon, Apr. 4 to 7. It features the rising stars of curling in Western Canada.

Second Brianna Cullen and lead Zoe Cinnamon help guide the rock of skip Serena Gray-Wither. (photo provided)