Braid ladies keep up pressure on Ballymoney in race for league title

The Braid ladies crushed the home team by a massive 56 shots to claim maximum points. League leaders Ballymoney also picked up maximum points and so the Ballymena ladies still trail their neighbours by one and a half points.

Jean Rainey, Allison Davidson, Linda McCullough and Jennifer Dowds found themselves trailing by 4 shots to 3 after 5 ends against L Evans however 12 shots over the next 4 ends put the Braid ladies on their way to victory. The home rink replied with 2 singles but the Dowds rink picked up a brace of 3’s on the 12th and 13th ends to further extend their advantage to lead by 21 shots to 6. The Coleraine ladies had the better of the remaining ends but it made little difference to the outcome with the visitors winning by 22 shots to 11.

There was carnage on rink 3 where Eva Gage, Maree Houston, Donna McCloy and Barbara Cameron took on N Lafferty. The home rink picked up 2 shots on the first end but scores of 4, 3 and 6 over the next 3 ends put the Ballymena rink in charge. Eleven shots was still the difference between the two rinks at the half way stage of the game the score board read 17-6. The Braid ladies then picked up 2 singles and this was followed by a count of 4 shots and then a maximum count of 8 to increase their lead to 25 shots. Cameron’s rink did not let up and they claimed a single on the 14th end and this was followed by a near maximum count of 7 shots on the next end and 3 more shots on the 16th end. The rinks shared 4 shots over the closing ends but this had been a tremendous display from the Ballymena rink who claimed a 44-8 win.

The closest game came as Megan Wilson, Gladys Power, Barbara Burnett and Sarah Jane Curran took on M Elder. The home rink started confidently and at the half way stage of the contest they held a 2 shot advantage. The game changed on the next end when the visitors picked up a count of 6 shots and they added another 4 shots to their score over the next 3 ends to lead by 17 shots to 9. Five singles were scored over the remaining ends to leave the Ballymena ladies victors by 20 shots to 11.