Staff
Rainy River District will be well-represented at the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts next month in Waterloo.
Devlin native Jenna Enge and former Stratton resident Angela Lee-Wiwcharyk both clinched berths at the Northern Ontario playdowns this past weekend in Atikokan.
Enge, who plays second for defending provincial champ Tracy Horgan of Sudbury, will be returning to the provincial playdowns for the third-straight year.
Lee-Wiwcharyk, who throws third stones for Thunder Bay’s Marlo Dahl, will be making her first provincial appearance since 2009, when she played vice-skip for Ashley Miharija.
Both the Dahl and Horgan rinks finished tied for second in Atikokan, which earned both foursomes one of the four spots up for grabs at the Ontario Scotties.
Also advancing for the provincials were Krista McCarville (Thunder Bay) and Kendra Lilly (North Bay).
The Horgan foursome, which also includes third Jennifer Seabrook and lead Amanda Gates, had opened play in Atikokan with a pair of wins Friday, defeating Lilly 6-2 in the afternoon draw and then downing Dahl 9-6 loss that night.
Saturday proved to be a tougher day for the Sudbury rink, though, as they were edged 8-7 by McCarville in the evening draw.
Horgan then lost her final game of the weekend Sunday morning, falling 10-7 to Liane Fossum (Thunder Bay).
As for the Dahl rink, which also includes second Steph Davis and lead Kim Zsakai, they started off with an 0-2 record after their loss to Horgan on Friday night and a 9-6 defeat to McCarville on Saturday morning.
But the Thunder Bay foursome bounced back with a pair of wins to conclude the playdowns, upending Fossum 7-3 on Saturday night before doubling Lilly 6-3 on Sunday morning.
The provincial playdowns will run Jan. 21-27 in Waterloo, where a berth to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston in February will be on the line.
The Horgan rink captured last year’s Ontario championship in Kenora with a dramatic come-from-behind win over Ottawa’s Rachel Homan.
