Johannah Leedham tallies double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds; Jewel White throws in 13 points

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (January 26, 2010) – The No. 1 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team stayed on its winning course Tuesday night with a convincing 80-39 win over Adelphi in The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 18-0 overall and 14-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference, while Adelphi dipped to 3-16 and 0-14 in league play.

Prior to the game Franklin Pierce fans had the opportunity to pay tribute to the past and present of Ravens women’s basketball as senior standout Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) and former great Shelia Lindsey were honored for holding the school’s all-time scoring record at respective points in their illustrious careers.

Leedham became the school’s all-time leader in career points during last Saturday’s win at American International. She moved ahead of Lindsey, who previously held the mark with 2,564 points during her career in Rindge from 1984-88. Lindsey was a special guest at Tuesday night’s game as both her and Leedham were give commemorative plaques for their career achievements.

Following the ceremony Leedham went right to work and totaled a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. She also blocked five shots, collected three steals and handed out a pair of assists. With the point total, Leedham moved into seventh place in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history for career scoring with 2,587 points.

Sophomore center Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.) also had a tremendous game for the Ravens as she threw in a season-high 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and collected nine boards. She also blocked three shots, as both Leedham and her combined for eight of Franklin Pierce’s 13 blocks in the game.

Sophomore forward Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) and junior center Tori Ahrens (East Greenwich, R.I.) added nine points apiece, while Giroud also pulled down a game-high tying 10 rebounds. Ahrens added two blocks.

Franklin Pierce out-rebounded Adelphi by an astounding count of 62-29 and held a 52-20 advantage in points in the paint. The 62 boards also helped the Ravens hold a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points. The Ravens forced the Panthers into 14 turnovers and scored 18 points off of those.

The Ravens shot a strong 46 percent (33-of-72) from the floor, while limiting the Panthers to just 24 percent shooting (15-of-63).

Ashley Caiafa led Adelphi with 10 points, while Erika Cottle followed with eight. Cottle converted a jumper two minutes into the contest to knot the game at five, but it would be all Ravens after that.

Franklin Pierce scored the game’s next 10 points, including four points apiece from Leedham and Ahrens, to open up a 15-5 advantage.

Adelphi would never threaten the rest of the way. Franklin Pierce slowly continued to add to its advantage and took a 42-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Every Raven got a chance to play in the contest and 11 of them scored. Franklin Pierce led by as many as 45 on multiple occasions in the second half as it pulled away for the victory.

The Ravens have won 31 of their last 32 overall and 23-straight regular season games dating back to the end of last season. Franklin Pierce is also 7-0 since becoming the nation’s top-ranked team back on Jan. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN WBCA Division II Top-25 Poll.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday afternoon when it travels to face Le Moyne at 1 p.m. Fans wishing to follow the game online can do so through the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)