Sarah Koltun capped off her run at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with a 6-5 victory this morning over Saskatchewan.

While Koltun finished in the cellar with two wins and nine losses, tied with Quebec, the 20-year-old skip was pleased with how her team performed, particularly since it was their first trip to the women's national championship.

"Overall, we had a great learning experience,” she said in a telephone interview this morning from Montreal following the game against Saskatchewan, who finished the round robin in a two-way tie for third with an 8-3 record.

The playoff round at the Scotties begins later today.

Skip Rachel Homan and her Team Canada rink finished in first with a perfect 11-0 record.

Manitoba finished in second with nine wins and two losses while Alberta finished tied for third at 8-3.

Koltun's rink began the tournament last Saturday with a 7-5 loss to Alberta, though the Whitehorse club was leading 4-1 at the halfway point.

They surrendered a steal of three in the ninth, and couldn't find their way home in the 10th.

Koltun easily handled P.E.I. in the team's second game, but lost their third against Newfoundland in the 10th end.

In all but three games, the youngest team ever to represent the territories at the Scotties was in the mix until the very end of the game.

Against B.C. Tuesday afternoon, for instance, the Koltun rink headed in the final end with a 7-6 lead, but gave up two.

"We wish a lot of the results would have weighed in our favour,” said the skip who had just come off a trip to the junior national championships. "We came out on the wrong end of a couple of really close game.”

Even on Wednesday morning, with Koltun and Lindsay Moldowan, the team's co-coach and alternate, both laid by the stomach bug that ripped through the tournament, the Yukon managed to stay close to Nova Scotia with just three players.

It's particularly difficult to play with three at any time but halfway through a major tournament, having just one sweeper is that much more demanding physically, said the skip.

Even still, Koltun's rink of three scored one in the sixth to draw to within two, with Nova Scotia leading 4-2. The Yukoners stole one in the seventh to draw within one but ended up giving up three in the ninth.

"We just had that one end that was really bad,” she said of the close games. "We learned we need to play stronger through the whole game. You can't rely on a quick start, we have to finish strong as well.”

Koltun said she'll definitely be trying to make it back to the Scotties next year.