MONTREAL – Yukon’s Sarah Koltun can’t help but look up to Canada’s Rachel Holman at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Koltun’s team first noticed Homan in 2007 at the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse and have been fans ever since.

The 20-year-old Koltun played Homan twice at the Canadian Juniors — both losses — coming into Monday.

Their first match at the Scotties was more of the same.

“We try to play and train similarly — putting in the effort, the time, that’s necessary to be successful,” Koltun said after dropping a 9-3 decision to Homan after eight ends. “That hard work will eventually pay off.”

Yukon (1-3) is by far the youngest at this year’s Scotties. Koltun, lead Andrea Sinclair and second Patty Willingham are all 20 years old, while third Chelsea Duncan is 21.

“We definitely look up to them because they’ve been so successful at a young age,” said Willingham of Homan’s Canadian rink.

In other afternoon matches Monday, P.E.I.’s Kim Dolan (2-2) edged Ontario’s Allison Flaxey (1-3) by a count of 7-5. Flaxey scored one in the seventh end, and another in the eighth, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Manitoba’s Chelsea Carey (3-1) scored four in the ninth against Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith (1-3), who conceded right after.

The afternoon draw also saw a Saskatchewan team that could do no wrong, beating New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford (2-2) 9-3 after eight ends. Saskatchewan skip Stefanie Lawton (3-1) stole four in the third and another three in the fifth to seal the victory.

“There’s always room for improvement,” said Lawton, who called the four-point steal in the third end a game-changer. “It definitely gave us an advantage and we were able to capitalize on that throughout the game. We played strong and put the pressure on.”

Homan scored three to take the lead in the third end, and never looked back. With the score 4-1 in the fourth, Koltun had a chance to cut the deficit, but overthrew her final rock.

“Unfortunately we didn’t play our best but we just need to learn from it,” said Koltun.

Still-unbeaten Canada (4-0) scored three in the third, and another four in the seventh for an impressive victory.

“We’re playing well,” said Homan. “We have to fine-tune a few things here and there. We got an early head start, and it was tough (for Yukon) to catch up.”

Homan had the night off to prepare for Tuesday’s matches, while Yukon’s Koltun faced Quebec’s Allison Ross (0-4) in the evening draw.

“We just have to regroup and come out a lot stronger,” said Koltun. “We definitely didn’t have our best showing this last game.”