Senior guard pumps in 28 points and moves into the top-10 in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history for career scoring

BOXSCORE

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (January 12, 2010) – The top-ranked Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team, and its senior standout Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England), had another memorable game Tuesday night. Leedham pumped in a game-high 28 points to become the all-time leading scorer in the Northeast-10 Conference for both men’s and women’s basketball, while also leading the Ravens to an important 65-52 road win over New Haven. Franklin Pierce improved to 14-0 overall and 10-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference, while the Chargers dipped to 7-8 and 5-5 in league play.

The 28 points gave Leedham 2,496 for her illustrious career. She moved into first place in the scoring category and ahead of Assumption’s Drew Adderly, who previously held the conference record with 2,489 points, which he scored from 1988-92. Leedham’s point total on Tuesday night also moved her into a tie for ninth place in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history for career scoring. Leedham needs just four more points to reach 2,500 for her career.

Tuesday’s contest also marked the second-straight game Leedham broke an NE-10 record. She became the league’s all-time leader in steals for women’s basketball on Saturday as she collected four thefts in the win over Saint Rose. Leedham had four more steals on Tuesday versus New Haven, which gives her 377 for her career.

Leedham wasn’t finished with the points and steals against UNH as she also pulled down 10 rebounds and handed out five assists. With the 10 boards, Leedham notched her fifth double-double of the season and second in the past three games. She shot a strong 10-of-17 from the field.

Leedham wasn’t the only Raven to have a strong offensive night. Sophomore forward Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) tossed in 17 points for the second time in three games and junior guard Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I.) added 11 points.

Despite the 13-point margin of victory, the Ravens had to work hard to earn the win. Helen Marte gave the Chargers an early 11-4 lead seven minutes into the contest following her layup.

The Ravens shook off the slow start and began to climb back into the game. They scored seven-straight points, highlighted by layups from Leedham and Gaudet and a three-pointer from Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.), to tie the game at 11.

The rest of the first half went back-and-forth with Giroud’s two free throws in the closing seconds being the difference in Franklin Pierce taking a slim 21-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Giroud converted a basket and Gaudet drained a triple in the opening minutes of the second half to extend the Ravens lead out to 26-20.

New Haven wouldn’t go away and kept the game within a three-to-five point range over the next several minutes.

Leedham answered the challenge and began to heat up again on the offensive end as she scored 12 of her team’s 19 points during one span that started to put the game out of reach. Leedham’s biggest basket during that stretch was a three-pointer with 9:15 remaining which gave the Ravens a 47-36 lead and her the all-time scoring record in league history.

Franklin Pierce would not let its lead slip below double-digits the rest of the way. The Ravens led by as many as 17 down the stretch in pulling away for the victory.

The Ravens have now won 27 of their last 28 games overall and 19-straight regular season games dating back to the end of last season.

Franklin Pierce returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it plays host to Southern Connecticut State at 1:30 p.m. in Rindge. Fans wishing to follow the game can do so online via audio and live stats at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)