SUMMERSIDE — It was a tale of two teams at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club here on Monday afternoon, as Manitoba’s Lois Fowler improved her record to 4-0 while P.E.I.’s Nola Murphy dropped to 0-4.
Despite the fact the two teams are at opposite ends of the standings, Murphy and her Summerside rink, which consists of third stone Donna Arsenault, second stone Elspeth Carmody and lead Laurie Tirone, led for the majority of the first six ends.
“No one is easy here,” Fowler said. “It’s a real good field. They (P.E.I.) gave us a really good game, and we finally got something going in the latter half.”
Despite the perfect record, Fowler actually sits in second place behind Nova Scotia’s Colleen Pinkney, who defeated Alberta’s Deb Santos 10-4 on Monday night to up her record to 5-0. Earlier in the day, Pinkney pulled out a hard-fought 8-6 win over New Brunswick’s Heidi Hanlon.
Hanlon defeated Newfoundland and Labrador’s Laura Phillips 7-6 in Monday night’s draw to create a four-way tie for third place. Quebec (Catherine Derick), Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Alberta are all 3-2.
In P.E.I.’s lone game of the day, the Islanders opened the scoring against Manitoba in the second end with a single, before stealing a pair in the third.
Fowler and her squad, which consists of third stone Gwen Wooley, second Lori Manning and lead Joan Robertson, would answer back with a triple in the fourth to tie things up.
Murphy would show resilience, battling back with a single in the fifth and a steal of one in the sixth.
In the seventh, however, Fowler’s team would show why it’s undefeated.
After a misplaced shot by P.E.I. left two of its own stones sitting on the button, Manitoba would knock them both out with an aggressive shot straight down the middle. The Island team went from sitting two to facing three.
Manitoba would put two more rocks inside the house en route to a five-point end, giving them an 8-5 lead.
Murphy would only be able to add a single in the eighth end, albeit on a well-executed hit-and-roll that cleared two Manitoba stones from the house with the final shot.
After Fowler tacked on three more in the ninth end, Murphy and her team would concede.
Fowler said despite her rink’s slow start, she was happy with the way her team battled back in the second half of the game.
“The ice is weight-sensitive, and we’re just learning more and more every day, and we’ve just got to stay focused,” said Fowler. “They controlled the first half, we got control of the second half.”
Despite the teams records being opposite each other, Fowler said the strong showing from P.E.I. is a testament to the level of competition in the tournament.
“We know that nobody is going to lay down and die for us,” added Fowler. “You have to go out and play 10 good ends together as a team.”
Manitoba will look to remain undefeated today versus Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis at 9 a.m.
The Nova Scotia squad puts its perfect record on the line against Ontario’s Judy Oryniak in the 2:30 p.m. draw.
