The 2011

United States Women's Curling Championship The United States Women's Curling Championship is the annual women's national curling championship for the United States. It is run by the United States Curling Association (USCA) and typically held in conjunction with the Men's Curling Champions ...

took place on February 12–19 at the

Scheels Arena Scheels Arena (formerly called The Urban Plains Center, or UPC) is a multi-purpose venue located in Fargo, North Dakota. It is part of the Sanford Health Athletic Park which comprises the arena, the Family Wellness Center (a partnership between ...

in Fargo,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. It was held in conjunction with the

2011 United States Men's Curling Championship The 2011 United States Men's Curling Championship took place on February 12–19 at the Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota, Fargo, North Dakota. It was held in conjunction with the 2011 United States Women's Curling Championship. After a win ove ...

. After winning the final over the

Allison Pottinger Allison Pottinger ( Darragh, born July 5, 1973) is an American curler from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is best known as having played for Debbie McCormick in multiple Olympics and World Championships. McCormick left the team in 2010. She com ...

rink, the

Patti Lank Patti Lank ( Pyett; born July 4, 1964) is a Canadian–American curler from Lewiston, New York. Career Patti Lank grew up in Saskatchewan, the daughter of Irvin and Reta, and began curling at the age of eleven in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. In Saska ...

rink represented the United States at the 2011 World Championships at

Esbjerg, Denmark Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,554 (1 January 2025)

, finishing in 7th place with a 4–5 win–loss record.

Road to the Nationals

Teams qualified for the women's nationals in one of two ways. Two teams automatically qualified as the top two US teams on the Order of Merit list after the Curl Mesabi Cash Spiel is completed. This year, those two teams were the Erika Brown and

rinks.Order of Merit as of 12/21/10
/ref> Teams could also qualify for the women's nationals through a challenge round.

Challenge round

The women's challenge round was held on January 19–23 in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

. There were eleven teams (excluding the two teams qualified based on Order of Merit) participating in the challenge round for eight spots in the nationals in Fargo. In accordance with the rules set forth in the 2010-2011 USCA rules booklet, the challenge round consisted of a divisional round robin with two divisions. There was also a ''double knockout provision'', where a team must have two losses in their win–loss record in order to be eliminated from qualifying for the nationals. Teams played tiebreakers to narrow down the number of qualifiable teams to the number of qualifier spots available.Nationals Rules
/ref> The divisional round robin consisted of two divisions (listed by seed in Results section) of 6 and 5, respectively. At the end of play, all teams except the bottom two teams in each division advanced to the nationals. The bottom four teams then played in a single-knockout playoff to decide the winner of the last qualification spot. The double knockout provision applies in that a winless team will not be able to advance to the nationals.

Teams

Results

Division A Division B

Nationals

Teams

Standings

''Through Draw 9''

Round robin

''All times listed in

Central Standard Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and a few Caribbean Islands, Caribbean islands. In parts of that zone (20 states in the US, three provinces or territorie ...

.''

Draw 1

''Saturday, February 12, 4:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Sunday, February 13, 8:00 am''

Draw 3

''Sunday, February 13, 4:00 pm''

Draw 4

''Monday, February 14, 8:00 am''

Draw 5

''Monday, February 14, 4:00 pm''

Draw 6

''Tuesday, February 15, 10:00 am''

Draw 7

''Tuesday, February 15, 7:00 pm''

Draw 8

''Wednesday, February 16, 12:00 pm''

Draw 9

''Wednesday, February 16, 8:00 pm''

Playoffs

1 vs. 2 game

''Thursday, February 17, 8:00 pm''

3 vs. 4 game

''Thursday, February 17, 8:00 pm''

Semifinal

''Friday, February 18, 4:00 pm''

Championship final

''Saturday, February 19, 10:00 am'' In the final of the women's championship, Lank opened up the game with a light tap for a deuce, and then stole a point in the second after Pottinger's takeout left one of Lank's stones closer to the button than her stone was. Pottinger drew against four to pick up a single in the third, but Lank drew to the button to score another deuce and take a commanding four-point lead. A failed double takeout by Lank left Pottinger with an easy draw for two, cutting Lank's lead to two points. After the break, Lank scored a big three points after Pottinger's failed takeout attempt gave Lank an easy draw. Lank stole another point from Pottinger when Pottinger's takeout didn't push one of Lank's stones out far enough. After coming up light to only take a single in the eighth end, Pottinger conceded the game, and Lank won the championship.

References

External links

2011 USA Nationals Home PageResults at CurlingZone.com
{{United States National Curling Championships United States Women's Curling Championship, 2011 United States Women's Curling Championship, 2011 United States National Curling Championships

Women's curling competitions in the United States Curling competitions in North Dakota Women's sports in North Dakota Sports in Fargo, North Dakota