The goal for the NWT at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., according to Kerry Galusha, was to have a good first three days.

Galusha and company have done just that and have put themselves in contention for a playoff spot, one which has eluded the territory for several years.

Galusha and her rink of Sarah Koltun, Margot Flemming, Jo-Ann Rizzo, Megan Koehler and coach Shona Barbour are in the hunt after Wednesday鈥檚 action at the Canadian women鈥檚 curling championship. They sat alone in second place with a record of four wins and one loss entering their game against Team Canada, skipped by defending champion Kerri Einarson of Manitoba, on Wednesday. That ended in a 8-5 loss 鈥� Einarson ran the NWT out of rocks in the 10th end 鈥� but it book-ended four straight wins over Ontario, Manitoba, Yukon and Quebec on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, following a loss to Nova Scotia in the Team NWT鈥檚 opening contest on Saturday.

The win over Quebec saw the ladies come from behind with three in the 10th end to win 7-6 thanks to a draw from Rizzo, who鈥檚 throwing fourth stones for the rink.

Galusha admitted in the post-match press conference that they had a stroke of luck.

鈥淭he 10th end didn鈥檛 look pretty to get our deuce (to tie),鈥� she said. 鈥淲e got lucky. We were outplayed most of that game. We just hung in there as a team. I don鈥檛 know how we won that game.鈥�

The loss to Einarson was followed by another defeat on Thursday morning to B.C. by a score of 11-6 in a game Galusha described in the post-match press conference as their worst of the week by far.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to win games if we play like that,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut we have one more game and we鈥檙e going to focus on that.鈥�

That final game comes against Alberta on Thursday evening and it is literally do-or-die. A win means Galusha and company would get, at the very least, a tiebreaker. A loss and it鈥檚 all over.