Thunder Bay's Kendra Lilly, Sudbury's Tracy Horgan lead Northern Ontario Scotties

Kendra Lilly and  Tracy Horgan are right where they want to be.

Both skips scored 10th-end wins in Friday’s afternoon draw at the Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Fort William Curling Club and sit tied atop the standings at 2-0, with a head-to-head matchup awaiting the two in the evening draw.

Thunder Bay’s Lilly was left with a relatively simple draw to the rings for the win in the 10th to earn a 5-4 win over fellow Lakehead skip Jessica Williams, while Horgan scored two in the 10th to shake off North Bay’s Laura Payne (2-1).

“It’s where we wanted to be at the beginning of the week,” said Lilly, who trailed Williams 4-2 early in the match, scoring a pair in the seventh to tie the game and stealing one in the eighth to take the lead.

“We’re just taking it game by game, so we’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves, but where we’re sitting right now is looking pretty good.”

Horgan, the former Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion, squeaking out the win over Payne to remain undefeated was exactly according to script.

Well, except for how tight her battle with Payne was.

“This is where we want to be, 2-0 is good,” said Horgan, whose foursome includes lead Amanda Gates, second Jenna Enge and third Jennifer Horgan.

“We feel pretty good about the game we just played. It was a close one, but we feel comfortable with the ice and we made a lot of shots. The other team played really well.”

The win came in the 10th, when Payne, faced with a pair of buried Horgan stones in the four-foot, unsuccessfully tried to carom off her own stone at the left edge of the 12-foot and into shot position, 

Lilly and Horgan have only tangled once this season, with Lilly coming out on top in Eveleth, Minn.

Both skips are anxious to meet again.

“This is what we were looking forward to, this game, all week,” Lilly said, recalling their previous contest.

“It was a nail-biter as well, so I’m sure it’s going to be a great game.” 

Horgan concurred.

“It was a tight game. It’s the only time we got to play them, but we know they’re a strong team and nice girls. It’ll be fun to play against them.”

For Williams, the loss eliminated them from playoff contention, their third in three matches. She’ll take on Thunder Bay’s other entry at the Northern Scotties, Lianne Fossum, in her final game on Friday night.

Payne, who slipped to 2-1, will take on Lilly on Saturday morning.

The top two teams in round-robin play advance to the final, which could go Saturday night if no tiebreakers are necessary, or on Sunday morning.

Friday night's draw is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.