The Hunter Classics Women's Tour held their second stop of the season for 56 players at Fast Eddie's in Austin, TX where Julia Gabriel came back from the one-loss side to claim her first Hunter Tour victory and a qualifier for the WPBA event in Illinois.
Gabriel took the long way to the finals after a loss to Michelle Cortez on Saturday. Gabriel started Sunday play with a win over Melinda Bailey followed by a nail-biting 7-6 win over Terri Kelley. Gabriel fell behind Lisa Marr 5-3, but rebounded for a 7-5 victory which made her the WPBA qualifier winner since she was the only remaining player who paid the additional entry fee for the qualifier. Gabriel then defeated Rachel Hurst and Alicia Teskey to set up the final match with Deanna Henson.
Henson took the hot seat with a victory over Teskey and was the crowd favorite to win it all in the true double elimination finals. The first set was a great display of ladies pool as Gabriel won 7-6 to force a second set. The second set was not as close as Gabriel won 7-4 for the tournament win.
Gabriel was absolutely elated with the win. When asked how it felt to win her first Hunter Tour event, she responded that "It feels exhilarating. I felt confident all day today. I had to beat good players to win this tournament and I think I feel worthy of the victory." Gabriel added a special thanks to Kathy Arens from Action billiards in Hazelwood MO. "Without Kathy, this would not have been possible".
Gabriel collected $750 for first while Henson took $580 for second. Alicia Teskey and Rachel Hurst filled out the top 4 spots.
The next Hunter event will be April 19th - 20th in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.
Photo courtesy of Melinda Bailey
