Ellesmere Port, England, native collects Freshman of the Year, first team All-Conference and All-Rookie team honors

RINDGE, N.H. (March 1, 2007) - Franklin Pierce women's basketball standout Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy) has collected a trio of end of the season awards from the Northeast-10 Conference, announced at its annual women's basketball banquet in New Haven, Conn., this evening. Leedham has been selected as the Northeast-10's Freshman of the Year and has also earned a spot on the All-NE-10 first team as well as the Conference's All-Rookie team, as selected by a vote of the Northeast-10's head coaches.

Leedham is the first NE-10 Freshman of the Year for Franklin Pierce since joining the Conference in 2000 and first "Rookie of the Year" pick since Cassie Beckwith collected those honors in the New England Collegiate Conference in 1992-93. Leedham is the first Raven to collect first team All-Conference honors in their NE-10 era and dating back to Amina Robinson's first team All-NECC pick in 1999-2000. Franklin Pierce head coach Mark Swasey has seen three of his freshman recruits in the last four years named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team with the addition of Leedham.       

Leedham, the first Franklin Pierce freshman to earn All-Conference honors, is the lone first-year player selected to any of the NE-10 first, second or third teams this winter. She took the Conference 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 leads 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 (14^th) and 1.0 blocks (6^th) per game. She ranks fourth in the NE-10 in three-point field goal percentage (.390), seventh in 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). She is also third in three-point percentage in Conference play, connecting at 40.9%.

Leedham scored 20-plus points in all but nine games played, 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. Below is a complete list of Leedham's records set to date:

LEEDHAM'S LIST
13-for-13 FT's vs. Stonehill (Dec. 2) - single-game free-throw percentage record*
19 FT's made vs. Molloy (Dec. 20) - single-game record for FT's made*
11 steals vs. Northwood (Dec. 30) - single-game record*
165 FT's made - single-season record*
100 steals - single-season record*
578 points - single-season freshman record
23.1 points per game - single-season record*
11 NE-10 Freshman of the Week awards
6 NE-10 Player of the Week awards*
Six-straight NE-10 Freshman of the Week awards
Three-straight NE-10 Player of the Week awards*
* - also program records for freshmen

Franklin Pierce (17-10, 13-9 NE-10), ranked ninth in this week's 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.