BREWER – How do sisters-in-law make it through a head-to-head bowling match and still remain friends? By keeping things in perspective.

Such is the story of Lois and Judy Bowden and their encounter Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Maine Candlepin Bowling Open Championship at the Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes.

“She is one awesome bowler,” Lois Bowden said of her sister-in-law Judy, who was the women’s second seed. “She’s been state champ before and I guess she will be again.”

But not this year. Lois saw to that by tossing three straight strikes in the final three frames of their 10-string match.

“With three frames to go, I asked my husband, `How many am I down,’ because I knew I was down. He said three pins,” Lois Bowden said. “I didn’t care if I’d won or lost at that point because I knew I’d bowled a good game. And I guess that took the pressure off me.”

The strikes turned a three-pin deficit into a 1,214-1,171 win for Lois Bowden, who lives in Hartland with her husband, Walt. Instead of congratulating her sister-in-law, she was on the receiving end of the congratulations.

“Yeah, we’re still speaking,” she said. “We’re good friends.”

On the receiving end of a scare was tourney sensation Casey Murray, an 18-year-old from Palmyra who watched as Mona Lamar of Gardiner charged from 80 pins back to make a match of it.

“I had a very big lead but Mona’s a real good bowler,” Murray said.

Very good indeed, Lamar kept chipping away at Murray’s lead over the last few strings but in the end came up nine pins short, 1,223-1,214.

“This is first time I’ve bowled in the open and I’m so proud of myself for getting this far,” Murray said.

In the closest match of the day, defending state champion Karen Matero of Saco edged Lee Ann Arey of Saco by one pin, 1,104-1,103. The lone Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes bowler to reach the women’s semifinals was Sharon Nealey of Otis who easily defeated Marti Damon of South Paris 1,251-1,043.

There was far less drama in the men’s matches. Two Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes bowlers, Chip Carson and Shawn Morrison, made it to the semifinals.

Morrison, who at 18 joins Murray as the state’s young guns, provided the high-pin count of the day when he knocked off the second seed, Kevin Sparks of Portland, 1,338-1,269. Morrison, of Orrington, struggled at the beginning of the match.

“Yeah, it was a tough start. I wanted to do a bit better but you never know. But I started coming on,” Morrison said.

Carson, a two-time state champ, sees a little of himself in Morrison.

“Everyone of his balls has a chance to blow the pins up,” Carson said. “He’s the up and coming guy. He has that enthusiasm, the same way I did when I was his age.”

Carson jumped out to a big lead in his quarterfinal match but the 1,270-1,146 victory over top-seeded Chris Petrin of Saco came unexpectedly easy.

“The big thing to do in any 10-string match is to get a jump. But it was strange because Chris is a much more aggressive bowler than he was right there. It’s almost as if after the first three strings he just kinda let up. So I kept hammering,” Carson said.

By the middle strings of the match Carson knew it was all over.

“After the fifth or sixth string you know, I had a 150-pin lead and he had no fight left in him,” Carson said. “It surprises me. I’ve never seen him, I don’t want to say give up, but not have the momentum and he didn’t have it today. Strange.”

Carson and Morrison are joined in the semifinals by Jim Singleton of Lisbon Falls, a 1,294-1,257 winner over Tim Matero of Thomaston and Nate Nealey of Westbrook, who defeated Brewer’s Jerry Scott 1,213-1,182.

The semifinals will take place on Saturday with the women bowling 10 strings at noon and the men following at 1:30 p.m. The championship round will take place on Sunday at the same times.