In the battle for final tour rankings, which played out in the season finale of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour on the weekend of October 1-2, the top two contenders – Briana Miller and tour director Linda Shea – unless they were dropped out of contention early, could not be caught. They weren't, and maintained their first and second place positions in the tour standings. The $750-added event, which drew 20 entrants to Cosmo's Billiards in Dickson City, PA was won by My-Hanh Lac, who came back from a defeat in the battle for the hot seat to meet and defeat the hot seat occupant, Megan Smith, in the finals.
By virtue of her victory, Lac advanced from sixth to fifth place in the final rankings, 20 points behind Smith in fourth place and 25 behind Tina Meraglio, whom she'd defeated in the semifinals.
The winners' side final four in this season finale featured three of the tour's top 10 players – Meraglio, Smith and Lac – with Meredith Lynch, who came into the event ranked # 14, occupying the final spot. Lac dominated in her matchup versus Lynch, shutting her out, while Smith sent Meraglio west 9-6. Smith got into the hot seat with a 9-5 victory over Lac and awaited her return.
Meraglio moved over to face Miller, whom she'd sent to the loss-side in the event's second round 9-3 (both had been awarded byes in the opening round). Miller went on to win three straight in the west bracket, including a 7-5 win over Shea, and a 7-1 victory over Shanna Lewis (# 4 in tour rankings, coming in) for a second shot at Meraglio. Lynch drew Melissa Jenkins, also in the midst of three straight in the loss bracket, including a 7-2 win over Pauline Mattes (# 11) and 7-5 win over Sharon O'Hanlon (# 10).
Meraglio got by Miller a second time, ending Miller's season with a double hill win, as Lynch defeated Jenkins 7-3. Meraglio then shut Lynch out in the quarterfinals and faced Lac for a possible second chance at Smith, who'd sent her west from among the final four winners. Lac, though, persevered in a double hill battle that gave her the second chance at Smith.
At stake for Smith in the race-to-9 finals was third place in the overall tour standings. Meraglio, having finished third, had gained tour points that left her in third place at the start of the finals. Had Smith won, she'd have ended up 45 points ahead of her. Lac, though, in spite of being down by as many as five racks, came back to knot things at double hill, and eventually win the event, leaving Smith in fourth place in tour standings, five points behind Meraglio.
