Jia Li picked up her second straight and third overall win on the 2014 J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour with an undefeated run on the weekend of November 1-2. For the second time in a row, Li faced tour director Linda Shea in the finals. In October, Li lost her opening match and won eight on the loss side (one by forfeit) before meeting and defeating Shea in the finals. At the most recent $1,000-added event that drew 18 entrants to Proshot Billiards (formerly Cosmo's) in Dickson City, PA, it was Shea who lost her opening match (to Li), and then defeated seven on the loss side to face Li in the finals.
There were only two matches in the event's opening round of play - Li vs. Shea and Ji-Hyun Park against Judie Wilson (who'd defeated Li in the opening round of play in October). Li downed Shea 7-2 and Wilson sent Park to the one loss side 7-3. Li advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Alex Calabrese, while Dawn Fox and Colleen Shoop squared off in the other. Li sent Calabrese to the loss side 7-2, and in the hot seat match, faced Fox, who'd defeated Shoop 7-3. Li sent Fox to the semifinals 7-5, and waited in the hot seat for her second straight finals matchup versus Shea.
Shea opened her loss-side campaign with victories over Kia Sidbury and Kayla Maciejewski, and then downed Denise Reeve and Melissa Jenkins, both 7-4, to pick up Shoop. Calabrese drew Meredith Lynch, who'd gotten by Sharon O'Hanlon 7-1 and Judie Wilson 7-3. Shoop forfeited, advancing Shea to the quarterfinals against Calabrese, who'd eliminated Lynch 7-4.
Over the next 16 games, Shea gave up only two racks; one each, to Calabrese in the quarterfinals, and Fox in the semifinals. Jia Li failed to get the momentum memo, and completed her undefeated run with a 7-5 victory over Shea in the finals.
Shea's second place finish, her fifth of the season, allowed her to stay atop the tour's rankings, because she's appeared in three more events than Karen Corr (# 2 in the rankings) and two more than Jia Li (# 3). Corr has the tour's top winning percentage (97%), with Li in second place (83%) and Shea in third (72%). Dawn Fox, who's missed only a single stop on the tour is in fourth place with a 59% win percentage. The top three are way ahead in the tour winnings department, as well, ranked the same as their percentages.
