Leedham Named
State Farm/WBCA All-America Finalist
Ellesmere Port, England, native a finalist
for second-straight year 

RINDGE, N.H. (March 10, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University sophomore Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)) has been named one of five finalists from the Northeast Region for the NCAA Division II State Farm Coaches’ All-America Basketball Team as selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The ten member All-America squad will be announced at the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball banquet in Kearney, Neb., on March 25.

           Leedham, who was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year and a first team All-NE-10 pick for the second-straight year on Sunday, is a WBCA All-America finalist for the second-straight season. She is one of just three sophomores nationwide in Division II named an All-America finalist. Last year, Leedham became the first player in program history to be named a WBCA All-America finalist - she has now earned the distinction in back-to-back seasons.          

Leedham, who has also earned ESPN The Magazine District I Academic All-America and NE-10 All-Academic first team honors this season, leads the NE-10 with 22.2 points (4^th nationally) and 3.4 steals (13^th) per game this season, to go with 6.6 rebounds (12^th NE-10) and 4.0 assists per game (5^th). She is shooting 47.9-percent (226-for-472) from the field (9^th), including 37.1% (49-132) from three-point range (7^th), and converting 82.3% (144-175) of her free-throw attempts (6^th). She has led the Ravens in scoring in 27 of their 29 games so far this season and also collected a team-best six double-doubles.

           Leedham, who has reached double-figures in scoring in all 54 games of her collegiate career, has scored 20-plus points in 36 of those games (20 of 29 this season) and netted 30-plus points 12 times (four this winter). She is just the second player in program history to score 600 points is a season, joining former Raven Shelia Lindsay who did so three times, and her 645 points so far are the fourth-best total in program history. She earned NE-10 Player of the Week honors four times, running her program-record career total to ten.          

Leedham holds no less than 21 program records, including two set this season, at Franklin Pierce. She became the fastest player in program history to reach 1,000-career points, doing so in her 44^th career game at Saint Rose on January 26. She poured in a program-record eight three-point field goals in a win over Southern New Hampshire on January 12. She currently ranks third all-time at Franklin Pierce with 197 career steals and is 11^th in program history with 1,223 career points.

           The honors are the latest in a long list of accolades for Leedham, who became the first All-American in program history when she was named to the Daktronics third team as a freshman. Leedham was named the NE-10 Freshman of the Year and earned All-Rookie team status in 2006-07. She is also just the fourth sophomore in NE-10 history to earn Player of the Year honors with her selection this season.

            Leedham has led Franklin Pierce (24-5, 18-4 NE-10), ranked 17^th in this week’s USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division II poll, to its first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance since 1999 (sixth overall). The Ravens, seeded third in the Northeast Regional, will face sixth-seeded Dominican College on Friday at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa., at 3 p.m.