Easthampton woman wins Jeopardy! a second night running

By AMANDA DRANE

@amandadrane

Published: 06-23-2017 11:21 AM

NORTHAMPTON — Lisa Evans’ knowledge of medieval history landed the Easthampton woman another win and an additional $28,001 Thursday on the TV game show “Jeopardy!”

Though a few bumbles set her back — “sometimes you can get an itchy finger,” she said of one moment when she hit the buzzer and blanked on the answer — but her grasp of church leaders of the Middle Ages brought her back up to speed in the category, “The Young Pope.”

“I always am fascinated by history, and popes obviously were an important part of history in the Middle Ages,” she said Thursday night after watching the episode with friends in Holyoke.

Evans, a 1982 Smith College graduate and office manager at Regional Economic Models Inc. in Amherst, trailed California writer/editor Daniel Esch for much of the game — until Final Jeopardy!

The question: “Rudolf Abel and this American are most associated with Germany’s Glienicke Bridge on February 10, 1962.”

She wagered $15,800 and landed victorious.

“I was actually surprised that I was the only who remembered Francis Gary Powers,” she said of the U-2 spy plane pilot shot down in Russia and freed in exchange for a Soviet spy held by the U.S.

“I’m too young to remember, but it certainly was something I knew about growing up.”

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The second day’s winnings compounded her first day’s for a total of $64,402. She’ll appear again Friday at 7:30 p.m. as the defending champion.

“Both Natasha (Baker-Bradley) and Daniel (Esch) played very well,” she said. “I had a really good time.”

Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.

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