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RED DEER, Alta. -- Manitoba's Jennifer Jones, B.C.'s Kelly Scott and defending champion Amber Holland continued to lead the pack at the Canadian women's curling championship Wednesday.

The three teams closed in on playoff berths with six wins apiece.

Both Scott and Holland finished the day 6-3, while Manitoba was 6-2 with a game to play later Wednesday against Yukon/Northwest Territories.

"We just really want to get into the playoffs and we need to win a couple more games to do that," Jones said.

The top four teams at the conclusion of the round robin Thursday advance to playoffs. Ties for fourth are solved by tiebreaker games. Seven wins is usually enough to secure a tiebreaker berth, if not a playoff spot.

B.C. rebounded from an extra-end loss in the morning against Manitoba to beat the Kerry Galusha of the Territories 11-6.

B.C. played without Sasha Carter for the second day in the tournament. Carter, who throws third stones for Scott, is ill with a stomach ailment that has made the rounds at Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Carter is also four months pregnant. She went to hospital Wednesday to replace lost fluids intravenously.

Alternate Sherry Fraser threw third stones in Carter's absence. Fraser played second Monday when Carter was sidelined. Scott considered keeping Fraser at third beyond Wednesday if Carter is unable to play.

"I'm glad to be where we are with this current lineup if we have to continue this way, I think we'll OK," Scott said.

Scott said if Carter is able to play, she'll be back in the lineup Thursday.

"It's Sasha's call," Scott said. "By no means if she says she's ready to play would we deny her that opportunity. We have to really assess how she's doing and she has to assess how she's doing."

After losing back-to-back games in an extra end, Holland's team from Kronau, Sask., thumped Kim Dolan of Prince Edward Island 10-4.

"We were pretty pleased how we executed that game," Holland said. "This is the end of our four in a row so it's going to be nice to have a night off, relax and put our feet up. Our feet are sore."

Holland's second Tammy Schneider left their first game of the day versus Nova Scotia early because she too was ill. Schneider missed almost two games earlier in the tournament with a pulled muscle in her knee.

Quebec's Marie-France Larouche and New Brunswick's Rebecca Atkinson were both 5-3. Larouche beat Alberta's Heather Nedohin 6-5, dropping the host province to 4-4.

Ontario's Tracy Horgan was 4-5 after a 7-4 victory over Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Labrador. Nova Scotia's Heather Smith-Dacey was 3-5. P.E.I., the Territories and Newfoundland were all 2-6.