Borana Andoni (Photo courtesy of Johnny Sturgis)
Six years ago, Borana Andoni became the first female to record a victory on the 2008/2009 Tri-State Tour. Two months later, she became the first female to record a victory on the 2009/2010 Tri-State tour. In 2013, her best recorded earnings year to date, though she failed to chalk up an event victory, she cashed in nine events, including stops on the Planet Pool, Predator, Tri-State, and JPNEWT tours, as well as the WPBA Masters and the Women's Division of the Ultimate 10-Ball Championships in Tunica, MS. Producers of the recent TRUtv series, The Hustlers, failed to take any of this into account, when throughout the 10 episodes of the series, she was referred to only as the girlfriend of Scott Simonetti.
On the weekend of November 7-8, in the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour's season finale, Andoni once again proved that she has independent pool credibility by taking the $1,000-added ($500 from Coins of the Realm) event that drew 28 entrants to Triple Nines in Elkridge, MD. She worked her way through a field intent on maintaining their position within the tour's rankings for a chance to compete in the WPBA's Regional Tour Championships in January. Andoni entered the event at #19, and before it was over, she'd defeated numbers 1 (Karen Corr), 2 (Linda Shea), and 3 (Nicole Monaco).
Andoni opened her winning campaign with double hill wins over #11, Dawn Fox, and #2, Shea. She then sent Corr to the loss side 7-2, from whence she would not return, making it the first 2015 JPNEWT event in which Corr competed that she failed to win. The win over Corr set Andoni up in a winners' side semifinal versus #14, Meredith Lynch. In the meantime, Kia Sidbury (#6) squared off against Lai Li. Andoni advanced to the hot seat match 7-3 over Lynch, and faced Sidbury, who'd sent Lai Li west 7-4. Just being in the hot seat match guaranteed Andoni her best finish, of six attempts, on the 2015 JPNEWT tour. Sidbury took the hot seat match 7-5 and waited on Andoni's return.
On the loss side, Lynch drew Kim Whitman, who'd defeated Kathy Friend 7-4 and Nicole Fleming 7-3 to reach her. Li picked up Monaco, who'd survived a double hill battle against Amanda Soucy and defeated Sharon O'Hanlon 7-2. Whitman and Monaco advanced to the quarterfinals; both 7-4, over Lynch and Li.
Monaco took the quarterfinal match over Whitman 7-2, before having her four-match, loss-side streak ended by Andoni 7-5 in the semifinals. Andoni took the extended race-to-9 finals over Sidbury 9-4 to claim the title. The victory moved Andoni to among the 2015 tour's top 10 players; from #19 to #9.
