Ladies

Hoggan launched her campaign with an encouraging 21-14 victory over experienced Balbardie (Bathgate) champion Sharon Leitch having trailed 11-3 then closing to 13-10 before crossing to 16 with a run of 1, 4, 1 and going on to win impressively.  The young EL champion made a strong start to her first round match against Audrey Stewart of Forfar to lead 8-3 then she pressed on to 15-4 before celebrating a commanding 21-10 win in 22-ends.Lorna Cameron of Whiteinch provided the second round opposition to Hoggan and it looked like curtains for the EL challenger when slipping from 6-4 up to 17-9 down but she produced a magnificent response of 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1 to cross to 18 and bring her 15 times capped opponent under pressure.Hoggan’s run was halted by the loss of 2, 1 to be back in big trouble at 20-18 down but in a thrilling climax she conjured up a magic count of 3 to pull a 21-20 victory out of the hat.A quarterfinal clash against legendary six times national champion Julie Forrest of Teviotdale was the toughest test imaginable for Hoggan but she continued to impress with a confident start to hold her own at 8-8 and was still in the frame at 13-11 down.Forrest is a super star of the ladies game however and she once again showed her class with a sparkling run of 1, 3, 1, 1, 2 to beat Hoggan 21-11 in 20-ends.Meanwhile, Richardson opened against Gail Notman of East Kilbride in the prelim round and started like a train to power into an 18-4 lead that the young full cap duly converted into a 21-10 victory in 21-ends.Richardson also made an impressive start to her first round match against Lauren McGowan of Fintry, blazing a 17-5 trail before finding herself tested at 19-15 and answering the question with a double to 21 on the 22^nd end.Marie Todd of Tweedbank faced Richardson in the second round where the WL champion trailed 7-3 before finding an improved rhythm to cross 13-8 then faced with increasing pressure at 15-13 she produced a finishing run of 3, 1, 1, 1 to win 21-13.Richardson’s opposition in the quarterfinals came in the shape of 2007 champion Claire Johnston of Auchinleck and the WL challenger was restricted to carding 11 shots in a 25-end defeat that saw her trail 11-3 after 10.Stacey Laidlaw represented the Midlothian banner but the full cap and former national pairs champion made an early exit, losing a thrilling 21-19 battle with her international colleague Claire Johnston.Laidlaw led all of the way up to 19-17 but was left feeling gutted when piped at the post by a 3, 1 finish from the former champion.Bainfield champion Mandy O’Donnell made an encouraging start in the shape of a commanding 21-12 victory over Seona Black of Falkirk in a 19-end first round clash and was still at the races when standing 15-12 down to Lesley Doig of East Fife in the second round.But Doig brought the match to an abrupt conclusion with counts of 4 and 2 to win in 20-ends.The four semi final qualifiers heading for the grand finale at Fraserburgh on the weekend of January 31 are, Lesley Doig, Claire Johnston, Julie Forrest, and Leanne Furye of Arbroath.