Benoit goes undefeated, downs Miller twice to win JPNEWT season opener in Vernon, CT
It just keeps getting harder to ignore, this Miller meets Benoit matchup at the tables (or, just to be equitable, the Benoit meets Miller matchup) that’s been the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) back story for a couple of years now. Started slowly, when Ashley Benoit first started cashing on the tour just two […]
admin
Billie Billing, Ashley Benoit, Christine Pross and Briana Miller
It just keeps getting harder to ignore, this Miller meets Benoit matchup at the tables (or, just to be equitable, the Benoit meets Miller matchup) that’s been the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) back story for a couple of years now. Started slowly, when Ashley Benoit first started cashing on the tour just two years ago, then began to pick up speed as her finish numbers just kept getting smaller and smaller. Briana Miller, in the meantime, had already established herself on two pool ‘fronts;’ tour directing the JPNEWT and becoming its most consistent winner. She was the woman to beat and everybody knew it. Still do. Not invincible, of course, but very formidable.
Of the five times since January of ’24 that Miller and Benoit have come up against each other in a hot seat match, final, or both, Benoit has won two of the three events in which they played a final match. They opted out of a final match twice, both times with Benoit in the hot seat at the time. Miller’s ‘final included’ victory came at the end of the Bluefelt, CT State Women’s 9-Ball event (Jan. ’24); Benoit claiming the hot seat, Miller coming back from the semifinals to win. Benoit’s two ‘finals included’ wins were recorded at the 2024 season finale and just this past weekend (March 8-9) at the 2025 season opener, a $1,000-added event, which drew 35 entrants to Racks Billiards and Bar in Vernon, CT.
Miller downed Benoit to claim the hot seat this past December, but Benoit came back from the semifinals to shut her out in a race-shortened (to 3) final. In Connecticut this past weekend, Benoit began her 2025 campaign by going undefeated, downing Miller in both the hot seat match and final.
In races to 5 (both sides of the bracket), Benoit’s seven-match trip to the event title began with four matches in which she’d gave up a total of four racks; one to Loreen Belfor, none at all to Kelly Bilodeau, another one to Elise Vaillancourt, and two to Sandy Cheng. This set her up to face Billie Billing in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Miller, in the meantime (with an opening-round bye), got through her first three, giving up just three racks. She opened with a shutout over Leann D Ettore, gave up one to Crystal Atkinson, and two to Thea Niemiec, drawing Carol Clark in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Miller graduated to the hot seat match with a 5-2 win over Clark. Benoit fought a double-hill battle against Billing to join her. Benoit claimed the seat 5-2.
Moving to the loss side, Clark and Billing picked up two opponents who would both end up as winners of the unofficial ‘most matches played’ award. Emily Smith, who’d been shut out by Clark in the opening round of play, went on to win six straight, that included a 5-2 victory over Niemiec and a 5-1 win versus Vaillancourt, to draw Billing. Christine Pross lost her opening-round match to Malinda Vazquez and also won six straight. She survived two straight, double-hill matches, against Sandy Cheng and Kristyn Swanger just ahead of picking up Clark.
When Clark withdrew from their match, Pross leapfrogged directly to the quarterfinals, although she’d wait overnight to play against Billing, who’d eliminated Smith 5-3. Billing would survive a double-hill challenge by Pross in those quarterfinals before chalking up just a single rack in a 5-1 semifinal loss to Miller.
This final match twixt Benoit and Miller was on. FargoRate odds, based on their respective rates (Miller at 675, Benoit at 616), gave Benoit a slightly better than a 1-in-4 (26.5%) chance of winning their race to 5. Miller got a rack closer than she’d gotten when Benoit claimed the hot seat, but Benoit won the match and JPNEWT’s season opener 5-3.
Miller, in her role as tour director, thanked the ownership and staff at Rack Billiards and Bar for their hospitality, along with title sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues, PA ProAM Pool and Get Your Game On. The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for April 26-27, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Sticks & Stones Billiards in Brick, NJ.
