Feb. 7, 2007

By Stephen Zerdelian

Special to CSTV.com

Leedham's foundation in the game came growing up in England

Johannah Leedham hails from Ellesmere Port, an industrial town of about 64,000 residents located in the northwest of England, not far from Liverpool. Basketball is hardly the sport of choice for most young athletes in that part of the world but for Leedham and her sisters, it's hoops that have taken hold.

Her grounding in the game came growing up in England and she's taken that base with her to Franklin Pierce College, a small institution located in bucolic Rindge, N.H. Raven head coach Mark Swasey is as thankful as Franklin Pierce's opponents are rueful.

"Johannah has been tremendous this year. We knew when she committed to us that we had a special offensive player on our hands," said the fifth-year mentor. "She has a true gift of being able to play the game," he says of the multi-talented 5-11 Leedham, who is averaging 23 points, eight rebounds, four steals and over three assists a game in her freshman season with the Ravens. With numbers like that, and the skill to make shots from anywhere (81 percent at the line, 50 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three-point territory), it's no wonder she's been a menace from the get-go. Recognition has come in many forms this year for Leedham, including a spot in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" feature in mid-January. She's impressing many, including opposing coaches.

"She's such an impressive freshman, she just plays the game, doesn't get rattled and stays composed," said Stonehill coach Trish Brown, whose team has given up 59 total points to Leedham in two games this season. "The first thing you've got to talk about is her poise. You can try to defend her with different looks but she's got so many skills that she makes her team better, even by not scoring... which she obviously does very well."

Franklin Pierce plays in the rugged Northeast-10 Conference, one of the deepest and most competitive Division II loops in the nation. Generally freshmen take time to adapt and make an impact in a college setting. For Leedham, the transition took virtually no time, as she quickly established herself as one of the best players in the league. The Ravens (16-8), recently a mid-level program in the NE-10 after years of success in the now-defunct New England Collegiate Conference, have taken off since Leedham arrived, taking up residence in the upper reaches of the standings. But when you mention the name Leedham in regional hoop circles, you have to specify which one. That's because Johannah is the middle sibling among three basketball-playing sisters and her older sister, Jennifer, is a sophomore at FPC, riding shotgun as Johannah terrorizes the league. So far this season the siblings have accounted for more than half of FPC's scoring, with Johannah leading the league in scoring and steals and among the top five in the nation in both categories. Jennifer adds almost 12 points a contest and both feature prominently in various league statistics.  

The Leedhams may be young but they are hardly green. International competition has been a staple of their athletic history, with Johannah in particular faring well. Named England's Under-18 Player of the Year in 2006, she led her Great Britain team to fourth place at the Under-20 European (Division B) Championships this past summer, finishing third in the tournament in scoring at 18.5 points per game. Jennifer played on the team as well, tossing in 10.5 points an outing, giving astute followers of the pair a glimpse into the future.

"It's great to play for my country, a real honor. I can't figure NBA players not wanting to do it here in this country; it's such an honor to do so, I can't understand how people can say no," offers the thoughtful Leedham. "The Under-20 tournament was the best experience of my life. Fourth place, for Great Britain, was a really good achievement. And to be able to play with my sister made the experience even better."

While their stay at Franklin Pierce is just getting underway, the Leedhams are pointing towards future international play. It's not just Johannah and Jennifer, either - 17-year old Kirsty (a senior at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut) can play also. The 2012 Olympics are due to be held in London, which makes for a convenient long-range goal for the sisters.

"The Olympic tournament in 2012 is the long-term goal for me. We (the Great Britain national team) need to succeed in qualifying tournaments over the next few years to rise from Division B to Division A and become eligible for the Olympics," mentions Leedham. More performances like the ones in the Under-20's this summer in Lithuania, where she had 30 points against Belarus and 23 points in the quarterfinal win over the Netherlands, would help the cause immensely.

Kim Leedham, the patriarch of the family, is fully invested in the game in England. He's been the club secretary for the Ellesmere Port Panthers basketball club for several years, winning various national competitions with the organization. He helped Johannah and Jennifer gain experience and exposure, as well as earning trials for the full British national team this past August. One might think that Kim foisted basketball on the girls from an early age but that was not quite the case. It wasn't basketball right away as a young athlete for Johannah, it was netball, a close relative to the sport first.

"I started playing basketball when I was about twelve but I had played netball my whole life. I tried basketball when I was asked by a local team entering a national youth games tournament, and we went on to win our regional title," says Leedham. "I liked it, and so I kept on playing and it grew from there."

The increased maturity level, not to mention the ability, of Johannah has been a boon to the Franklin Pierce team, which lost their top two scorers from a season ago, when they posted a 16-14 record. "It helps that they have a certain level of maturity, it brings something more to the team," says Swasey. Along with the sisters, FPC has a trio of players from Australia (including third leading scorer Vanessa Power) that have extensive international experience. Add in Point Claire, Quebec native Stephanie Bergeron, the Ravens junior point guard, and players from outposts like Minnesota (Chaska), California (Freemont) and Maine (Wayne), and you have one serious melting pot of a team.

How, one might ask, did the Leedham sisters end up in America, let alone at Franklin Pierce? They initially heard chatter while at home about how they might try to come to the States to play ball and go to school, and eventually they began to take notice.

"People back home were telling us to try and come to American to play college basketball and we started to talk to some schools. Next thing you know, here we are. Jennifer and I came to Cheshire Academy (where Kirsty is currently) at the same time, with her doing a PG (post-graduate) year and me doing my junior year. I stayed the next year and Kirsty came over to join me," says Leedham, who had some Division I feelers before arriving at FPC but ended up in Rindge on the advice of her sister.

"Jen basically told Johannah that if she was going to play at the Division II level, she had better come to Franklin Pierce. It's nice when your best players can help you recruit. But it was a good fit for both of them, they feel right at home with the international population at Franklin Pierce," said Swasey. "That helped their adjustment and since they're not the only foreign students at the school they can fit in and feel at home."

Johannah confirms that sentiment. "The international community helped a lot in making things easier. Even though I'd become used to a new country at Cheshire Academy, it was still an adjustment being in a new, rural setting. I like being part of a diverse community, and there are women from England on the soccer team and a guy from Scotland (on the men's soccer team), as well, so we can relax and talk about home when we need to," she said.

Johannah wasted little time in putting her imprint on the Raven record book. A 39-point effort against No. 21 Stonehill in her sixth game was soon followed by a 37-point outburst against No. 23 College of St. Rose, a pair of games FPC, not coincidentally, won. She nabbed 11 steals against Northwood (Florida), a school record, and she's already broken the program's single-season steals mark. Getting to the foul line is one of her specialties, where she's set a new single-season Raven standard for made free throws (surpassing the 160 mark to date). In all, Johannah has set at least eight program records with many more surely set to follow. Yet it's not just the numbers which impress folks who watch her in action.

"She's one of those kids you wish you could recruit," offers Dennis Masi, currently an assistant at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, but also a long-time head and assistant coach in the region. "The best thing about her is her composure; she plays like a junior or senior. When you play Franklin Pierce, she's the first name on the scouting sheet. She continually makes her team better, so I guess we've all failed as coaches to stop her so far. Mark (Swasey) does a great job, putting her in an offense that shows her ability."

"She gets a lot of her points in transition, in the open court, thanks to her court awareness," said Swasey. "Johannah's got such a quick first step, so she creates a lot of opportunities for herself. The players have really looked to her all season, freshman or not. They try to find her on virtually every possession and she delivers."

Franklin Pierce is in the mix for league honors and an NCAA bid, which is the team's ultimate goal. The last time the program made the big dance or won twenty games was 1999 (22-7), a few years prior to Swasey's arrival. "We've worked hard to get there, and it's a major goal for this team," says Swasey. "It's a tough challenge, being in so difficult a conference but we have a chance to get there if we finish well. We've been knocking on the door for a while and Johannah's production has helped us get to where we are now."

Leedham finds the level of play outstanding in the NE-10, even though she'd not given Division II basketball much of a thought when she first arrived at Cheshire Academy. "Originally, Division I was everything to me but the Northeast-10 is as good as many Division I leagues.  It's an excellent level of play, the competition is amazing. You can't underestimate any team in this league, they can all play," mentions Leedham. "Never underrate Division II - don't knock it until you've tried it."

Sound advice, well-worth applying to Johannah Leedham as an opponent, as well. Under-estimate or underrate her at your peril. America, you have been warned.