Leedham Nearly Leads
Great Britain to Comeback Win at Ukraine
Franklin Pierce All-American
and Division II Player of the Year scores
13 of team-best 14 points in second half 

KIEV, Ukraine. (August 13, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University All-American Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy), the State Farm/WBCA Division II Player of the Year, nearly led the Great Britain Women’s National Team to a comeback victory over the Ukraine on day one of the 2009 EuroBasket Championship qualification round. Ukraine held on for a 59-54 victory at the Sports Complex Meridian today.

           Leedham scored 13 of her team-high 14 points in the second half as Great Britain nearly rallied all the way back from a 33-18 halftime deficit after the Ukraine closed the half with a 15-0 run. Leedham made 4-of-16 shots from the field and converted 6-of-7 free-throws on the day, to go with five rebounds, an assist and steal in 30 minutes off the bench. She led three British players in double-figures with her personal-best point total with the senior side.          

Great Britain, who shot just 31.6-percent (18-for-57) from the field, including 2-of-16 (12.5%) from three-point range, outscored their Ukrainian hosts, 36-28, in the second half. The British were still down 13 points (52-39) after three quarters, but Leedham scored four-straight points to draw her side within five points (57-52) after a layup capped a 12-5 run, with 2:02 to play. GBR went cold from the field from there, missing its final four shots from the field, and could get no closer than a four-point deficit (58-54) with eight seconds left.

           “For our first game in Division A competition, I was pleased with our effort,” said Great Britain Head Coach Mark Clark. “I was pleased with the way we came back in the game and I think we proved we belong to this level. I was not surprised that the Ukraine team was as good as we expected them to be.”

           Great Britain will return to Cardiff, Wales, to prepare for its second qualification contest against Lithuania next Wednesday, August 20, at the Welsh Institute of Sport at 2:30 p.m., EST. Lithuania will be looking to bounce back from a 63-47 loss to Israel in today’s other Group A contest. Germany rounds out the group, in which the top two teams qualify for next summer’s finals in Latvia. The best two third place teams in the four groups also advance, with the remaining sides entering an additional qualifying tournament for the Championship next summer.

           “Now that we’ve had a look at this level, we've got to adapt and get ready to play Lithuania, who is one of the favorites in the group,” said Clark.

Click here for full match report

Leedham is keeping a weekly journal of her summer experiences with the Great Britain Women’s National Team for Franklin Pierce’s athletics website. The link for the journal is at: http://old.franklinpierce.edu/pages/Athletics/WomensBasketball/wbkbleedhamjnl.htm.

Leedham led Franklin Pierce (27-6, 18-4 NE-10) to its best season in program history last winter, reaching the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Kearney, Neb., after claiming its first Northeast Region Championship. She led the Northeast-10 for the second-straight year in scoring, with 23.0 points (3^rd nationally), and steals, with 3.4 (12^th) per game this season, to go with 7.0 rebounds (11^th NE-10) and 4.0 assists per game (5^th). She led the Ravens in scoring in 32 of their 33 games and set single-season records for points (758), steals (111) and free-throws made (180) – the latter two breaking her own single-season marks.