Briana Miller
We used the term ‘juggernaut’ in last week’s report on the eighth stop of the 2023 J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) to describe its tour director and current top player in the tour standings, Briana Miller. Not since Ireland’s Karen Corr established a similar set of ‘juggernaut’ credentials when she won eight in a row on the 2015 tour has a competitor so dominated the tour standings. This past weekend (Oct. 28-29), that ‘juggernaut’ chalked up her seventh win on the 2023 tour (to include an undefeated split with Kia Burwell at a round robin event back in August). This brought her two-year total to 14 wins (two splits) of 18 tour stops in which she has competed. She has won 70% of the 578 games she has played during this year’s events.
And she did it the hard way this time, losing her second match and winning nine on the loss side to face and defeat Elise Qiu in the finals. Held under the auspices of the JPNEWT and PA Pro-Am Pool, the $1,500-added, Pennsylvania State Women’s 8-Ball Championships drew 49 entrants to Bluegrass Billiards in Philadelphia, PA.
Miller’s appearances on the winners’ side of the bracket were short, consisting of an opening-round shutout over Angela Brown and a double-hill defeat at the hands of Nicole Nester in Round 2. We’ll pick up Miller’s tale on the loss side later.
Hard not to imagine a collective sigh of relief on the part of the winners’ side competitors as the event progressed. Or a bit of a silent groan from the loss side. Elise Qiu set out on a six-match march to the hot seat, while 14-year-old Skylar Hess, awarded an opening-round bye, began a five-match trip to the same place.
In races to 5, Qiu’s trip went through Ashley Benoit (3), Melissa Jenkins (0), Emily Smith (2), and Amanda Laverriere (1) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Rachel Walters. Hess’ trip through the field got by Giovanna Napolitano (3) and survived a double-hill match against Lai Li, before she sent the woman who’d defeated Miller to the loss side, Nicole Nester 5-2. This set Hess up to face Erica Testa in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Qiu and Hess advanced to the hot seat match with identical 5-3 wins over Walters and Testa, respectively. Somewhat predictably, Qiu and Hess locked up in a double-hill battle for the hot seat. Qiu won it, sending Hess off to a fateful meeting versus the tour’s top competitor in the semifinals.
It was Walters who had the misfortune to run into Miller on the loss side. At the time, Miller had had already chalked up six of her eventual nine loss-side wins, by an aggregate score of 24-4. She shut out three of the six, gave up two to one opponent (Christine Pross, who’d finished as runner-up at last week’s tour stop) and one each to two others. Not the kind of record you want to be facing, no matter how many times you’ve been told to maintain your focus on the game at hand. Testa picked up a rematch against Nina Torvund, whom she’d sent to the loss side 5-2 in the third round. Torvund had survived a double-hill battle against Rebecca Hilton in her opening, loss-side round and then won three straight 4-1 matches against Karlene Goodrich, Laverriere and Jay Pass.
Briana Miller and Elise Qiu
Miller chalked up her fourth loss-side shutout, over Walters, and advanced to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Torvund, who’d extended her loss-side streak to five. It ended right there as Miller eliminated her 4-2 to face Hess in the semifinals.
Asked later how she threw off the intimidation factor of playing an obvious top-notch competitor who’s just completed an eight-match, loss-side run of wins with an aggregate score of 28-4, Skylar Hess had this to say.
“When playing someone like Briana, you just have to have fun,” said the 14-year-old. “Yes, you’re trying to win the match . . . but when playing someone with more experience, you just have to accept the rolls and your (own) playing ability at the same time.”
“You have to look at the positive side of things,” she added. “You just have to be in the moment to achieve your goals and push through tough matches.”
Miller won the semifinal against Hess 4-1. In another somewhat predictable turn of events, Miller and Qin battled to double hill to claim the title. Miller prevailed to become Pennsylvania’s 2023 8-Ball Woman’s Champion.
Tour directors Miller (for JPNEWT) and Frank Maialetti (with PA Pro-Am) thanked the ownership and staff at Bluegrass Billiards for their hospitality, along with JPNEWT’s title sponsor, J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Kamui, Salotto, Integrity Cues, InTheBox Sportswear, Trophy Smack and Billiards Beauties. The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 4-5), will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Stroker’s Bar & Billiards in Pelham, NH. The season finale, another $1,000-added event, is scheduled for Dec. 2-3 at Players Billiards & Café in Eatontown, NJ.
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