Mathoura was the only team to win a rink of the teams that fill positions four to six, with Rich River and Rochester both succumbing 16-0 to their opposition.
Only one pennant point separates top-of-the-ladder Echuca, with a 9-2 win-loss record this season, from Moama, and Deniliquin is a massive 40 pennant points back in third spot.
A further 35 pennant points separate fourth-ranked Mathoura with five rounds of the Friday morning competition remaining.
The margin between second and third could be increased this Friday when Echuca tackle third-ranked Deniliquin, although the teams are one win each this season. Deniliquin beat Echuca in the opening round of the season.
Echuca has not lost a match, however, since November 26, when it was beaten by a shot by Moama. Last Friday against Rich River was its seventh successive win.
Echuca was a six-shot winner 16-0 (57-51), Leica Roney, Kerryn Evans and Roma Opie all narrow winners on their rinks. The largest of the three scorelines was a 23-20 win for Roney, against Rich River’s Margaret Griffiths.
Deniliquin was an 11-shot winner in its match with Mathoura, 66-55 (14-2). Christine Taylor put Mathoura on the board with a seven-shot win, but the 25-10 win of Deniliquin’s Joanne Bovell influenced the scoreline significantly.
In the remaining match Deniliquin’s Linda Harris was a three-shot winner.
Moama’s 17-shot win against Rochester came with a repeat of the 16-0 scoreline, seven and eight-shot wins by Marilyn Stephenson (against Helen Holzer) and Sandra Connolly (against Margaret Knight) largely influencing the result.
Mary-Anne Spizer completed the trifecta of wins with an 18-16 win opposite Kaye Baker.
Only days earlier Spizer and Stephenson had combined with Merilyn Rehe and Colleen Masten to win the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields region’s state fours at Golden Square.
Their 21-12 win in the final came opposite midweek teammates Sandra Connolly and Cheryl Doherty, who were bowling with Christine Ritchie and Mia Young.
After a nine-shot opening round win, the Stephenson-skipped four beat a team including Cass Millerick in the quarter final and was a seven-shot winner in its semi.
- Tongala has put itself in prime position to reach the finals of the Campaspe midweek division two competition, with a 13-shot win against Rich River on Friday.
The 14-2 (63-50) result has secured fourth spot on the ladder for the club, with a 5-5 record after 10 rounds. And in the next three weeks it faces the three teams on the bottom rungs of the ladder, Elmore, Ky Valley View and Lockington.
It has a final round appointment with Echuca before the play-off series starts in the second week of March.
Elaine Hosking’s rink of Greg Higgins, Jenny Golds and Robert Hosking was a 20-shot winner against Rich River’s Noeline King. That was the difference in the match, despite the 11-shot win of Rich River skip Pam Hayes against Tongala’s Carol Cardwell.
Joy Makepeace gave Tongala a second rink win with a 14-shot win opposite Pat Sehestedt.
In other matches, Moama won by 56 shots against Elmore, 16-0 (90-34) after big wins by Bev Button (30-9), Deana Hogan (28-13) and Bev Trengrove (32-12).
Moama is 35 pennant points clear of second-ranked Echuca on top of the ladder, with the Echuca team winning 14-2 (75-53) against Ky Valley View. In the last match Rochester, which is four points behind fourth-ranked Tongala, won 14-2 against Lockington (60-44).
Rochester has a tough run home to the finals, facing the top three teams (Moama, Echuca and Rich River) in the last month of competition.
- Moama Green’s bye on Friday gifted top spot to sister side, Moama Red, after it beat Deniliquin by eight shots in the round 10 division three clash.
Green has the chance to turn the tables on its Red rival when they meet in two weeks and with the Red combination having a bye in round 13 the tables could yet be turned.
The Red side won 12-2 (37-29), Elaine Thomas’ nine-shot win against Helen Anderson giving it the win.
Tongala took fourth spot from Mathoura after it scored a 42-27 (14-0) win against bottom team Rich River. Mathoura failed to register a point against Echuca, losing 14-0 (47-34).
