A field of 42 women met at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ for the 8th stop of the NEWT Tour on August 12-13. This was the 7th Annual Ladies NJ State 9-Ball Championship sponsored by Amstel Light. With $3000 added, it was a strong group of women that came out to play. Karen Corr, Dawn Hopkins, Helena Thornfeldt to name a few. Saturday went down to the final 12.

After first round of play in Sunday it was Karen Corr and Julie Kelly left to play the semifinals match to see who would be left in the hot seat. That ended up being Corr. On the one loss side, Pro Tiffany Nelson neat local Nicole Choi. Monica Webb beat Dawn Hopkins. Helena Thornfeldt beat local Gina Kim. Local Sharon O'Hanlon beat Pro Neslie O'Hare. Great event Sharon!! She ended up in 7th/8th. Local Colleen Shoop also had a great event. She ended up in 5th/6th and was awarded the WPBA qualifier spot! All the remaining players at that point were Pro's and not eligible. Congratulations Colleen!

Helena was the last person standing on the one loss side. The match between Karen and Helena started out as a battle. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, then with two great outs Karen pulls ahead 6-4. It gets tied up 7-7 with a great out by Helena. It turns into a battle again and in a race to 9 the score is 8-8 with Helena catching up again. It all comes down to one game. Helena breaks and drops the one ball leaving a not to easy 2-9 combo. Helena plays it safe. Karen kicks and scratches. With ball in hand Helena runs out.

Many thanks to our hosts Rich and Mary Sacco, the staff of Castle Billiards and the NEWT sponsor Pechauer Cues. They sent a beautiful cue, a PR16 worth $920.

Tournament Results:

1st $1100 - Helena Thornfeldt
2nd $750 - Karen Corr
3rd $500 - Julie Kelly
4th $350 - Monica Webb
5th/6th $250 - Maureen Seto/Colleen Shoop
7th/8th $175 - Sharon O'Hanlon/Tiffany Nelson
9th/12th $130 - Gina Kim/Nicole Choi/Dawn Hopkins/Nesli O'Hare
13th/16th $100 - Donna Tidwell/Jennifer Baretta/Ellen Stutz/Ellie Chang

by Micaela Dames