After a phenomenal run to her first Australian Open singles final, the newly 21-year-old Cartwright was defeated by Dawn Hayman 21-11 on Thursday afternoon.
Cartwright trailed early in the singles final, opponent Dawn Hayman claiming a 5-0 lead off the first three ends, before the Moama bowler got herself on the board in the fourth.
In the first-to-21 format, there was plenty of time to recover, but Hayman continued to dominate early, picking up another three-shot end.
End eight proved a big moment for Cartwright, as her aggressive shot sent bowls scattering, creating an opening to score a three and get herself back into the match, 5-9.
Hayman continued to hit her spots and racked up another five straight to lead 14-5, but Cartwright found a good grouping on end 12 and added another three to her tally.
Hayman scored a single shot on the next end after another weighted bowl for Cartwright struck true, and the Moama Steamer drew a little closer with two in the 14th.
She managed to ‘break serve’ in the 15th, narrowly picking up one in an end where Hayman had last bowl.
Down 16-11, a pressure 17th end saw Hayman land consistently, while Cartwright wasn’t able to find optimal shot weight, resulting in four shots to Hayman and a 20-11 lead, putting her one shot from the championship.
Hayman got over the line in the following end, hanging on to an early draw bowl throughout to pick up the one required for the title, and ending Cartwright’s hopes.
Cartwright earned $8000 in prize money for making it to the final.
Earlier in the day, Cartwright also fell short in the women’s fours final, her squad of Laura Butler, Bek Lord and Chloe Stewart falling short to the star-studded foursome of Lynsey Clarke, Kelsey Cottrell, Anne Johns and Rebecca Van Asch.
On Wednesday, Cassandra Millerick’s strong run in the pairs ended at the semi-final stage, as she and Wodonga’s Kylie Lavis went down one step from the final.
Millerick and Lavis led by a single shot ahead of the final end, but a critical three for their opponents sent Millerick’s pair home.
In the men’s singles, the best local performer was Cameron Keenan, who progressed to the round of 32.
In the pairs, Keenan also scored the best result, advancing to the round of 32 with Queensland partner Joel Downey.
In the men’s fours, Geoff Beattie, Jacob Brighton, Matthew Brighton and Ben Fletcher were the best local combination, making it to the round of 16.
For the juniors, Mackenzie Parsons progressed to the semi-final of the under-18 girls, while the best under-18 boys performance came from Jacob Brighton, who made it out of the sections stage but fell in the first round of knockouts.
In the over-60s women’s pairs, cross-river duo of Echuca’s Lee Beattie and Moama’s Colleen Maslen made an impressive run to the round of 16 before they were downed by a WA pairing.
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