Oxfordshire suffered a heartbreaking 106-104 defeat by Nottinghamshire in the Henselite Johns Trophy final on the opening day of the Women's National Championships at Royal Leamington Spa.

Having reached the final for the first time, Oxon won on three of the six rinks at Victoria Park and drew on one other.

But a heavy 31-13 defeat for Carol Penson’s side of Lesley Storer, Rosemary Phelps and Pat Ostler by skip Sylvia Offler swung the match Notts’ way.

Caroline Campion’s rink of Carol Galletly, Pam Shepherd and Stella Amos led the way for Oxon with a 21-8 victory over skip Margaret Stokes.

Barbara Pearce’s four of Mavis MacVicker, Hazel Woodward and Carol Gaskins were also in terrific form to beat Enid Adams’s rink 24-14.

And Katherine Hawes’s quartet of Myra Lewis, Mo Cox and Donna Grant made it a hat-trick of winning rinks for Oxon with a 17-14 victory over skip Brenda Atherton.

Sue Lacey’s side of Sue Mayo, Cindy Lee and Jeanette Berry shared the spoils 16-16 with Margaret Maidlow’s rink.

But Anne Norton’s four of Pat Taylor, Davina Comley and Brenda Havard went down 23-13 to Rose Lewis.

Oxon had reached the final with a 129-112 win over Essex.

RESULTS

Oxfordshire 104, Nottinghamshire 106

(Oxon rinks first)

Rink 1: C Galletly, P Shepherd, S Amos, C Campion 21; J Waldram, P Briggs, A Wortley, M Stokes 8.

Rink 2: L Storer, R Phelps, P Ostler, C Penson 13; S Mart, M Dixon, A Porter, S Offler 31.

Rink 3: M Lewis, M Cox, D Grant, K Hawes 17; J Croxall, M Osborne, T Wombell, B Atherton 14.

Rink 4: M MacVicker, H Woodward, C Gaskins, B Pearce 24; P Jones, M Cockayne, A Pinder, E Adams 14.

Rink 5: S Mayo, C Lee, J Berry, S Lacey 16; L Fletcher, M Morrison, J Mather, M Maidlow 16.

Rink 6: P Taylor, D Comley, B Havard, A Norton 13; S Murphy, S Maguire, H Hayes, R Lewis 23.

Oxfordshire 129, Essex 112

(Oxon rinks first)

Rink 1: L Storer, R Phelps, P Ostler, C Penson 15; W Buckingham, J Bird, C Riley, M Norgate 25.

Rink 2: P Taylor, D Comley, B Havard, A Norton 15; P Brown, I Rawlins, R Smith, M Smith 23.

Rink 3: M MacVicker, H Woodward, C Gaskins, B Pearce 25; S Brickel, M Langwith, P Thornton, G Hunter 17.

Rink 4: M Lewis, M Cox, D Grant, K Hawes 32; C Crafer, P Lowe, R Howes, S Bloomfield 17.

Rink 5: C Galletly, P Shepherd, S Amos, C Campion 23; V Bingley, J Bohannon, B Gunn, L Tunn 10.

Rink 6: S Mayo, C Lee, J Berry, S Lacey 19; D Cottee, M Crane, V Chaney, E Scarborough 20.

OXFORD City & County were pipped 25-24 by Yorkshire club Tockwith in the Women’s National Fours Championships second round.

Sue Lacey’s rink of Sue Mayo, Hazel Woodward and Jeanette Berry had beaten Barbara Griffiths’s Brimfield & Little Hereford side 22-11 in the first round.

The Shiplake four of Daphne Jacob, Jean Webb, Jackie Stafford and Sylvia Blackmore went out 21-12 to skip Maureen Lawford (Broomfield, Middlesex) in the preliminary round.

City & County’s Myra Lewis fell 14-7 to Bath’s Joan Walmsley in the second round of the National Two Wood Singles.

She had brushed aside Shepshed Town’s Carol Burton 18-2 in the first round where City & County’s Jeanette Berry was defeated 14-11 by Norfolk’s Anne Read.