Murphy, third stone Donna Arsenault, second stone Elspeth Carmody and lead Laurie Tirone dropped an 11-7 decision to Alberta’s Deb Santos rink from the St. Albert Curling Club.
After Murphy counted a single point with last-rock advantage in the first end, Santos counted four in the second end, and then proceeded to steal a single point in the third end and three more in the fourth for an 8-1 lead.
Trailing 9-2 after six ends, Murphy scored one point with the hammer in the seventh end and stole four in the eighth to close to within 9-7, but Santos answered back with a deuce in the ninth end.
In other Draw 1 action, it was Newfoundland and Labrador (Laura Phillips) scoring a deuce in the 10th end for a 10-9 win over the Northwest Territories (Ann McKellar Gillis), and 2009 Canadian senior champion Colleen Pinkney and her Nova Scotia rink from the Truro Curling Club scored a pair of three-enders en route to a 10-4 win over Northern Ontario’s Vicky Barrett.
New Brunswick’s Heidi Hanlon from the St. Thistle St. Andrew Curling Club outlasted British Columbia’s Karen Lepine from the Langley-Port Alberni-Vernon Curling Club 10-7; Manitoba’s Lois Fowler needed an extra end for a 9-8 decision over the Judy Oryniak’s foursome from the Galt Curling Club, and Quebec’s Catherine Derick opened with an 11-4 decision over Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis from the Yorkton Curling Club.
Draw 2 will feature six men’s games at 2:30 p.m., including P.E.I.’s Rod MacDonald taking on Alberta’s Wade White from the St. Albert Curling Club.
Murphy and Co. will be back on the ice on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., taking on Quebec in Draw 3. That draw will follow the official opening ceremonies, which are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
