Both Penny Barker and Amber Holland emerged with wins in their opening games on Thursday afternoon at the Prince of Wales Cultural Centre in Assiniboia and have advanced to the A-side semifinal.
For Barker and her Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre foursome of third Christie Gamble, second Jenna Enge and lead Danielle Sicinski, it involved holding off a bit of a comeback by Biggar’s Brett Barber before taking an 8-6 victory.
Barker trailed 3-2 through three when she picked up a deuce in the fourth end and stole two in the fifth to go up 6-3. Barber slowly battled her way back, though, scoring single points over the next three ends to tie the game up heading into the ninth. There, Barker scored a pair and would run Barber out of rocks in the 10th to secure the win.
Barker takes on Martensville’s Sherry Anderson in her A-side semi after Anderson defeated Regina Highland’s Stasia Wisniewski 11-6 and 2020 Scotties champion Robyn Silvernagle 10-7 in her first two games. Barker received a first-round bye as the top team on the Sask Tour.
Holland and her rink of third Kim Schneider, second Karlee Korchinski and lead Deb Lozinski had a more comfortable first game, taking an 8-4 win over Regina Highland’s Michelle Englot.
Holland -- the 2011 Scotties national champion -- led 3-2 heading into the fifth-end break, but took control of things with single points the next two ends. The two teams exchanged deuces in the eighth and ninth before Holland stole one in the 10th to take the four-point win.
Next up for Holland will be Regina Highland’s Chelsea Carey in a battle of former national champions. Carey rolled to an 11-4 win over Saskatoon Sutherland’s Jessica Mitchell in their opener after also receiving a first-round bye.
Both A-side semifinals are slated for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Saskatoon Sutherland’s Ashley Howard, who has Moose Jaw’s Skylar Ackerman filling in at lead this week, lost her opener 8-3 to Mitchell and was to face Englot in the B-side semifinal this afternoon.
For all the latest scores and information surrounding the 2022 Viterra Scotties, be sure to visit www.curlsask.ca.
