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FISHER FENDS OFF BLACK WIDOW
by Kirstin Pires

Saying she played as well as she has in a number of tournaments this year, top-ranked Allison Fisher successfully defended her Women’s Professional Billiards Association national title with a sound 7-2 thumping of previously unbeaten Jeanette Lee in the championship match of the 2000 nationals at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Sunday night.

Capitalizing on several safety errors by Lee in the early going, Fisher built leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 in the match, which avenged Fisher’s lone loss of the tournament, a 9-4 beating by Lee in the winners bracket semi-final of the 64-player event.

"After playing poorly in the first match of the day, I got fired up for my semi-final match against Karen Corr," said Fisher who earned $10,000 in winning her fourth national title in five years. "That level of play carried over into the final match. I played as well in the final match as I have in some time."

For Lee, whose ranking had slipped as low as 10 this season, the title-match loss ended her hopes of avoiding a winless year. Lee earned $7,000 of the $80,000-purse as runner up.