HUNTER CLASSICS AMATEUR WOMEN'S TOUR
Brannen Back on Top All photos copyright of AZBilliards.com
The largest, longest-running regional women's tour in the
United
States, the Hunter Classics Amateur Women's Tour, held their 4th
tournament of 2006 in Lake Jackson, Texas at Shooters II April
8-9.
Forty three women came to compete in the $2,000 added tournament over
the the weekend at Shooters II and several states were represented
besides Texas - including Oklahoma by Michelle McDermott, Florida by
Emily Wilmoth, Arkansas by Lisa Brannen, California by Tina Palowski
and New Mexico by Anna Kostanian. On Sunday the regulars were in
full
force, but there were a few surprises.
Anna Kostanian, the 18-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, continued
her regular routine of running over her opponents as she made her way
to the hot seat undefeated. On the one-loss side, 7th and 8th
place
matches were being played out and Heather Lloyd won over Tara McCracken
7-5 and Brandi Booth won over Kyu Yi 7-4. Heather continued
winning
and defeated Courtney Peters 7-1. Lisa Brannen was sent to the
one-loss side by Anna
Kostanian on Sunday morning and Lisa started her run of wins by
defeating local Lake Jackson player Brandi Booth 7-3, then stopped
Heather Lloyd 7-5 and Belinda Lee 7-3 to set up a rematch with Anna in
the finals. Brandi filled out the other 5/6th place and Heather
placed
4th. Belinda Lee is having a great year and earned her high
finish of 3rd
place!
Anna Kostanian and Lisa Brannen matched up in the finals and the first
match was over quickly as Lisa played strong and won 7-2 to force a
second set in the double elimination tournament. The second set
looked
like a reverse of the first, as Anna led the match at 4-1.
However,
Lisa fought back hard and turned things around and led at 6-5. At
6-5,
Anna nailed a tricky 5-ball/9-ball combo to tie the match at 6-6.
It
was down to one game for the tournament and the first place prize of
$750. Anna broke and was running out when the 4-ball found its
way in
front of the 9-ball for another possible combo. After a tough
miss,
Lisa played a safety and although Anna got back to the table later, a
heart-breaking scratch on the 8-ball left Lisa two balls for the
win.
Lisa earned $750 for her first place finish and her first win of the
year. Anna placed 2nd and earned $550 and she also won the WPBA
Qualifier for the Cuetec Cues Florida Classic event in June!
A BIG thank you to Wes
Hunter who donates a Hunter Classics Custom Cue
to every stop. Thank you also to Deby at Shooters II who always
treats
the ladies with respect and sets up a professional and comfortable
event for the ladies. Visit the Hunter Classics Tour at Pugsley's
Library in Dallas, Texas on June 10-11 for the next stop.
Complete Payouts
Main Event:
43 women, $2,000 added 1st Lisa Brannen $750
2nd Anna Kostanian $550 + WPBA Qualifier
3rd Belinda Lee $380
4th Heather Lloyd $225
5th/6th Brandi Booth and Courtney Peters $145
7th/8th Kyu Yi and Tara McCracken$100
9th-12th Cristina Dela Garza, Snowy Belt, Emily Wilmoth and Julie
Stephenson $70
13-16th Leslie Anne Rogers, Shayla Neris, Rebecca Goodnight and
Tina
Palowski $50
17th-24th Jennifer Kraber, Michelle Ram, Terry Petrosino, Sue
Chong,
Gail Roles, Kim Mills, Helen Hayes and Tracie Volkering $25
Second Chance Tournament:
14 women, $100 added 1st Tina Palowski $100
2nd Jillian Valles $75
3rd Helen Hayes $50
4th Sandra Adams $25
