At long last, Yukon skip Nicole Baldwin will lead the territory into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Baldwin’s rink edged a foursome led by Jenna Duncan two games to one in the two-team Yukon women’s curling championship held last weekend at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

Team Baldwin also includes third Steph Jackson-Baier (from Victoria), second Ladene Shaw, lead Rhonda Horte and fifth Sandra Mikkelsen.

After Team Duncan took the first game 9-6, Baldwin, 35, and company began their grind to victory.

A clutch extra-end draw from the fiery skipper pulled her rink back from the brink in game two, as she feathered her last stone around two guards and onto the button.

A last-second Hail Mary from Patty Wallingham – throwing last stones for Duncan’s side – wrecked on those same guards, handing Baldwin a 9-8 victory and new life heading into Sunday’s finale.

Both teams exchanged blows early Sunday, with Duncan following up a Baldwin single by scoring three in the third end.

Baldwin would counter with two in the fourth, making an open hit to tie the game 3-3.

In the fifth, Wallingham threaded the needle with the hammer, hitting and sticking for a big three points to enter the break up 6-3.

But in the sixth end, a Baldwin hit-and-roll for three again tied the game 6-6 – and proved to yank the momentum back in her team’s favour.

Baldwin celebrated that shot with an emotional fist pump. The skip said her team used the break to regroup.

“Getting back to our tasks, back to basics – really using your sweepers,” she said of their talk. “I feel like we just came around after that and we felt the momentum change after we got our three. And we just stuck with it.”

Baldwin stole singles in the seventh, eighth and ninth ends to go up 9-6, then proceeded to run Duncan out of rocks in the 10th.

“Right now, it’s just kind of surreal,” Baldwin said shortly after a team hug. “It’s a great honour to represent the Yukon at a national event and have your name with all the other teams that have played for the Yukon.

“It’s just a really big pride ... proud, proud moment.”

The Scotties will take place Feb. 20 to 28 in Grand Prairie, Alta.

Baldwin’s group still faces a huge hurdle to enter the main draw. They will square off with British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut in a pre-qualification event to determine which team will do battle with the top teams in Canada.

The pre-qualification event gets underway on Feb. 18.

Georgina Wheatcroft, a B.C. curler who won bronze for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics, has joined Team Baldwin as a coach.

Meanwhile, Jackson-Baier joined the team via a new ruling by Curling Canada that allows one free-agent player per team.

“We just grew stronger and stronger after every game,” said Baldwin of her new-look squad. “The chemistry was great. Great communication.”

Baldwin last won the Yukon women’s title in 2013 – but was eventually ousted in the Northwest Territories-Yukon playdowns to rival Team Koltun. She previously played at the Scotties as a fifth for Yellowknife’s Kerry Galusha in 2007.

Baldwin played four games at that event, one as lead and three as second.

Baldwin’s mom, Laurel Baldwin, previously represented Yukon at the Scotties – in 1982.

The Duncan rink included two members of Sarah Koltun’s Scotties team, alongside two local standouts – Jody Smallwood and Aline Goncalves.

While Duncan was the official skip, Wallingham threw last stones. The two previously served as lead and second, respectively, for Koltun.

“Me and Patty decided to split the skip role,” 20-year-old Duncan told the Star Sunday. “Instead of all the pressure being on one person, we kind of split it up. ... It worked out really good.”

The group appeared to have a Scotties berth in its grasp Saturday, up 5-1 after three ends in the best-of-three series.

But missed shots in the fourth by both Duncan and Wallingham paved the way for a five-point end from Baldwin – good for a 6-5 lead.

The two rinks then battled all the way to an extra end, where Duncan’s side nearly ran out of time.

“All three games were really good games by both teams. We were really close, so I don’t feel like anything changed,” said Duncan. “We just came out on the losing end, but it could have gone either way.

“We were just happy that we had three really good games. We’re happy with how we played and how the weekend ended up. I’m not upset.”

Duncan was mum on the topic of a Team Koltun reunion in the future.

“We’ll have to see,” she said. “I don’t want to give anything away right now.”