Narrow defeats to Korea and Canada on the third day of action at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championships in Sweden left Scotland’s Team Morrison still looking for their second win, but their skip reckons they are playing well enough to turn things around.
Rebecca Morrison made her World Championship debut at this event and with teammates Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson also having had minimal experience at this level following their early withdrawal from last year’s competition when COVID hit their camp, this was always going to be a difficult learning environment. 
A solid win over Germany on the opening day was followed by cruel defeats at the hands of both European Champions Denmark and Pan-Continental Champions Japan ahead of these latest losses.
The Scots had looked to be in control of their meeting with the Koreans when they moved into a 6-5 lead at the sixth end, only for the match to slip out of their grasp when they conceded the first two of the match at the next, then steals at both the eighth and ninth ends on their way to a 6-4 loss.
Their match against traditional rivals Canada then started in explosive fashion with their opponents claiming a four at the first, only for the Scots to match that at the next end and it was close fought from that point.
Steals at the fourth, seventh and eighth ends allowed the Canadians to eke out a 9-5 lead, but the Scots registered a two at the ninth end and battled to the last, ultimately forcing Kerri Einarson to play a tough raise with her final stone two remove two of three counting Scottish stones and secure the 9-8 win for her team.
“It is hard to know that we’re so close to having a really good record at this point and instead to have the record we have,” said Morrison.
“It really is tough to swallow, but I think a lot of that just comes down to the other teams having a little bit more experience than us.
“We just need to find ways to learn from each of those games.”
Having shown their fighting qualities against Canada, the Scottish skip was determined to concentrate on the positive aspects of their performances as they look ahead.
“We’ve built up some great ends, which is great to see and even in that last game we lost a four, but then came right back with a four having built a really great end,” she noted.
“It would have been really easy after that four we lost in the first end to just get disheartened and let our heads down, but we came back fighting, showed we could get back right away and could go toe-to-toe with a really good team like Einarson’s for the whole game.
“We made her play the last shot and that shows a lot from us I think.”
They now meet Norway and Italy on day four, knowing that they have to kick-start their campaign if they are to have any chance of reaching the play-off stages.
“We’ve got to go for these remaining games in order to meet our goal of making the play-offs,” said Morrison.
“We’re still not completely outside, but it will be tough to do, so we’re just going to have to learn from the mistakes we’ve made in these matches and come out firing.
“We definitely need to get some wins on the board tomorrow in order to be in play-off contention.
“Norway and Italy both seem to be having a good competition so far, so we expect more tough games tomorrow, but hopefully we can bring the learnings we’ve made to those matches and get over the finishing line this time.”
The LGT World Women’s Curling Championships is taking place in Sandviken from March 18-26.
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Schedule
Day One – Saturday 18 March
Session 2 – 18.00
Scotland – Germany 12-5
Day Two – Sunday 19 March
Session 3 – 08.00
Scotland – Denmark 7-9
Session 5 – 18.00
Scotland – Japan 8-9
Day Three – Monday 20 March
Session 7 – 13.00
Scotland – Korea 4-6
Session 8 – 18.00
Scotland – Canada 8-9
Day Four – Tuesday 21 March
Session 10 - 13.00
Scotland – Norway
Session 11 – 18.00
Scotland – Italy
Day Five – Wednesday 22 March
Session 13 – 13.00
Scotland – USA
Day Six – Thursday 23 March
Session 15 – 08.00
Scotland – Sweden
Session 16 – 13.00
Scotland – New Zealand
Day Seven – Friday 24 March
Session 18 – 08.00
Scotland – Switzerland
Session 20 – 18.00
Scotland – Turkiye
Day Eight – Saturday 25 March
Qualification Games – 09.00
Semi Finals – 15.00
Day Nine – Sunday 26 March
Bronze Medal Game – 09.00
Gold Medal Game – 14.00
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Jen Dodds (alternate)
Nancy Smith (Team Coach)
Greg Drummond (Coach)
Nigel Holl (Team Leader)
#curling #WWCC2023
Image: WCF/Jeffrey Au
