All week long, Kelly Scott was second-best to Kelley Law.

But the defending provincial champion from Kelowna found a way to win over the final five ends of Sunday鈥檚 final, coming from behind for a 5-3 victory at the Scotties B.C. Women鈥檚 Curling championships at the Cloverdale Curling Club.

鈥淲e were happy when the score was close after five, and still close at the end,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you hope for in the final, a chance to win.鈥�

Scott clung on to that chance for the first half of Sunday鈥檚 contest, and trailed 2-1 at the break. She scored a pair in the sixth end to take the lead, and the two curlers then exchanged singles. Law blanked the ninth end, hoping to score a pair in the 10th.

But with her opponent sitting three, Law鈥檚 attempt to draw for one with her final short was long by just inches, handing a second consecutive Scotties title to Scott.

The result was a surprise to many. While Scott qualified as a defending champion, Law topped the B.C. standings in the Canadian Team Ranking System to earn the second automatic berth.

Although the two rivals finished one-two in the standings 鈥� Law at 8-1 (won-lost) with Scott at 7-2 鈥� Law dominated the head-to-head competition.

Curling out of the Royal City Curling Club, Law handed Scott a pair of one-sided losses earlier in the week, winning 9-3 in the third draw of the round robin last Tuesday, then posting a 9-2 victory in the first game of the Page playoff Friday night.

But Scott and her team 鈥� which also includes third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Jacquie Armstrong 鈥� shook off those two setbacks.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 feel bad about our two losses,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淭hey nailed it to us on the scoreboard, but we didn鈥檛 feel we played that badly. That鈥檚 what you have to carry into the final.鈥�

Gradually getting better as the week went along, Scott said lessons learned in Cloverdale will help when her team competes at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national championship Feb. 19-27 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She placed fourth last year in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

鈥淭his week, we worked out a few things. It was slick ice conditions, but every day we adapted a bit better,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur slides and our techniques got better and better each day. That鈥檚 what we struggled with at Canada Cup. We did better with it here, and hopefully do that much better again when we鈥檙e on the arena ice in PEI.鈥�

Roselyn Craig of Duncan placed third, going 6-3 in the round robin before edging Kristy Lewis 7-6 in a quarterfinal game. Craig then dropped a 7-4 decision to Scott in Saturday鈥檚 semifinal.

Lewis, from Richmond, qualified for the playoff by defeating New Westminster鈥檚 Adina Tasaka 6-5 after both curlers were 5-4 in round robin play.