Leedham Starring at FIBA U20
European Women’s Championship
Franklin Pierce product leads Great Britain
to 2-1 start in pool play 

RINDGE, N.H. (July 17, 2007) – Franklin Pierce University All-American Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy) is off to a tremendous start at the FIBA U-20 Women’s European Championships being held at in Druskininkai, Lithuania, July 13-22.

           Leedham and her teammates from Great Britain currently sit in a tie for second in Group A of the Division B championships with five points and a 2-1 record. Great Britain and Portugal square off on Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. (EDT). Host Lithuania leads the group with 3-1 record and seven points. She is joined on the team by younger sister, Kristy Anne.          

Great Britain has claimed wins over The Netherlands (69-58), on Saturday, and Switzerland (80-70) today, but lost to Lithuania (63-57) on Sunday. Leedham leads GBR in most statistical categories through the first three games, averaging 20.3 points (4^th among Championship leaders), 8.7 rebounds (6^th), 3.7 assists (5^th) and 4.3 steals (2^nd) per contest. She is shooting 51.3-percent (20-of-39) from the field, including 3-for-8 (37.5%) from three-point range.

           Leedham nearly single-handedly led Great Britain past Holland as she totaled 26 points, ten rebounds, four steals and three assists. She added 25 points, nine rebounds and three steals in the loss to Lithuania and chipped in ten points, seven rebounds, six steals and seven assists today against Switzerland.          

Leedham, a Daktronics third team All-American and also the first Kodak/WBCA All-District selection in program history, also collected Daktronics All-Northeast Region first team, Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, first team All-Conference and NE-10 All-Rookie team honors this past winter at Franklin Pierce. She took the Northeast-10 by storm in her first collegiate season, earning NE-10 Freshman of the Week honors 11 times and Player of the Week honors on six occasions, including a string of three-straight weeks leading into the holiday break. Leedham appeared in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of the January 15 issue of Sports Illustrated.

              Leedham led the Northeast-10 in scoring, averaging 23.1 points (3^rd in Division II), to go with a Conference-best 4.0 steals (3^rd nationally), 7.9 rebounds (5^th NE-10), 3.3 assists (13^th) and 1.0 blocks (6^th) per game. She ranks sixth in the NE-10 in three-point field goal percentage (.390) and free-throw percentage (.813) and eighth in field goal percentage (.490). In 20 NE-10 games played, Leedham averaged 23.6 points (1^st), 7.9 rebounds (5^th), 3.5 assists (12^th), 3.9 steals (1^st) and 1.1 blocks (5^th).

            Leedham scored 20-plus points in all but nine games played last winter, reaching 30 points seven times, and recording ten double-doubles. She led the Ravens in scoring in 19 of their 28 games and rebounding 18 times. Leedham has already made an impact on Franklin Pierce’s record book, setting no fewer than 19 records (including freshman marks) in her first collegiate season.

  Franklin Pierce (17-10, 13-9 NE-10), ranked tenth in the final NCAA Division II Tournament Northeast Regional rankings, earned its fourth-straight postseason berth and hosted an NE-10 Tournament first round contest for the second-straight year.