Scotland made an excellent start to the BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championships in Nova Scotia when they eased past Norway in their opening match with a solid all round performance.
Starting without the hammer Rebecca Morrison, Jen Dodds, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson went toe to toe with their opponents in the early stages, blanking the first two ends, before forcing at the third.
With last stone advantage for the first time, they then made their move with a two at the next end, before they stole two more at the fifth to take a useful 4-1 lead into the midway break.
There looked to have been something of a momentum shift at the fifth end when Scottish mistakes allowed the Norwegians to score a two and they looked to be in serious trouble at the seventh when skip Morrison found herself having to play a delicate tap back into the four foot with her last stone against three counting opposing stones. 
However, she proved up the challenge and also followed up with a pressure draw into the four foot at the ninth end, which re-established a vital two shot lead at 6-4 and a well played final end saw her finish the match with a straightforward take-out to run Norway out of stones.
“We are absolutely delighted to get that first win up on the board and it really settles us into the competition nicely,” Morrison said afterwards.
“It was a tight game from the get go with a few blanked ends to start with, but we definitely became the dominant team in the first half and started to pull away a bit.
“We let them come back in with a two later on but continued to play better after that and saw out the game.”
She was particularly pleased with the key shot at the penultimate end that provided room for manoeuvre at the last, but said the credit had to be shared throughout the quartet.
“There was a lot of pressure in the ninth end to make that shot and if I had missed that we would have lost control of the game which would have been unfortunate,” Morrison acknowledged.
“However, I think we communicated well as a team about the weights and speed of the ice and just had a good grip on that.”
With that first victory under their belts they now go into a two match second day, opening up against a relatively unknown quantity in New Zealand, before going on to meet regular tour rivals Italy.
“We are not as familiar with the New Zealand team and have not played them this season but I am sure if we just go out and play like we did there we have a good chance in the morning,” said Morrison.
“It would be great to come away with two wins tomorrow that would set us up well for a good week, so we are excited and keen to come out firing.”.
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Scotland Team
Rebecca Morrison
Jennifer Dodds
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Gina Aitken (alternate)
Team Coach Ross Paterson
Olympic Head Coach Greg Drummond
Schedule
Saturday 16 March
22.00hrs
Scotland –Norway 6-4
Sunday 17 March
12.00hrs (midday)
Scotland – New Zealand
22.00hrs
Scotland – Italy
Monday 18 March
12.00hrs (midday)
Scotland – Denmark
22.00hrs
Scotland – Sweden
Tuesday 19 March
12.00hrs (midday)
Scotland – Korea
22.00hrs
Scotland – Estonia
Wednesday 20 March
17.00hrs
Scotland – Switzerland
22.00hrs
Scotland – USA
Thursday 21 March
17.00hrs
Scotland – Turkiye
Friday 22 March
12.00hrs (midday)
Scotland – Japan
17.00hrs
Scotland – Canada
Saturday 23 March
14.00hrs
Qualification
20.00hrs
Semi Finals
Sunday 24 March
14.00hrs
Bronze Medal Game
20.00hrs
Gold Medal Game
Action image: WCF
