Moose Jaw’s Penny Barker opened the SaskPower Saskatchewan women’s championship at the Balgonie Stardome with an 8-5 loss Stefanie Lawton’s rink Wednesday.
Lawton scored twice with the hammer in the second and fourth ends to take a 4-2 lead. She scored three in the sixth before Barker counted a deuce in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-4. She would get no closer.
Barker — whose Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre foursome includes third Susan Lang, second Melissa Hoffman and lead Danielle Sicinski — will face Mandy Selzer from Balgonie today at 2 p.m.
In other evening games, Jill Shumay (Maidstone) defeated Michelle Englot (Highland) 9-4, Chantelle Eberle (Callie) beat Candace Chisholm (Maryfield) 7-5 and Trish Paulsen (Saskatoon) scored one in the 11th end to beat Amber Holland (Callie) 8-7.
In the afternoon draw, Selzer beat Deanne Miller-Jones (Callie) 7-6 and Nancy Martin (Saskatoon) defeated Brett Barber (Biggar) 9-4.
The round-robin portion of the Saskatchewan championship runs through Saturday. The semifinal is Sunday (2 p.m.) followed by the final (5 p.m.).
