Johannah Leedham goes for 30 points or more for fourth-straight game

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (February 9, 2010) – The No. 1 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team downed Saint Michael’s, 91-56, on Tuesday night in The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The win moved the Ravens record to 22-0 overall and 18-0 in the Northeast-10, and gave them the two-game regular season series sweep over the Purple Knights. Saint Michael’s fell to 7-14 overall and 5-13 in league play.

Senior standout Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England), who on Monday was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Week, tossed in a game-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor. It marked the fourth-straight game she went for 30 points or more, and it enabled her to go over the 2,700-point mark for her career. She currently stands at 2,716 points for her fabulous career and is one of just 23 players all-time in NCAA women’s basketball history (Divisions I, II & III) to go over 2,700 points in a career.

Leedham also had two rebounds, two assists and four steals. The four thefts gave Leedham 411 for her career as she now needs just 13 more to move into the top-10 in Division II history in that category. If she is capable of turning the trick, Leedham would become the only player in Division II history to rank among the top-10 all-time in career scoring and steals.

A pair of freshmen also got into the scoring act for the Ravens as Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) and Jordan Grant (Concord, N.H.) came off the bench to chip in 13 and 10 points, respectively. Saab was an impressive 3-of-5 from three-point range and Grant was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field.

Junior center Tori Ahrens (East Greenwich, R.I.) had a strong all-around game with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block, while sophomore frontcourt-mate Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) had eight points and four boards.

The Ravens shot a strong 55 percent (32-of-58) from the field, including going 48 percent (13-of-27) from three-point range. They also did the job defensively by limiting the Purple Knights to 38 percent shooting (20-of-53) and forcing them into 25 turnovers.

Michelle Otey was Saint Michael’s lone player to score in double-figures as she had 11 points.

Franklin Pierce exploded out of the gates and scored the game’s first six points on the way to opening up a 22-4 advantage with 11:24 left in the half. Freshman guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) scored four of the game’s first six points. Leedham scored nine points during the opening surge and Giroud chipped in with three.

The Ravens largest lead of the half was 32 points as they took a 45-13 lead into the locker room at halftime. Franklin Pierce forced 18 turnovers in the opening half and scored 21 points off of those. The Ravens shot 51 percent from the field, while limiting Saint Michael’s to just 19 percent shooting (5-of-26).

Leedham had 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, while Ahrens scored all nine of hers in the stanza.

The Purple Knights tried to fight back in the second half and did a much better job shooting the basketball. They were 56 percent shooting from the floor (15-of-27) and scored 43 points in the half. However, the large first half deficit was too much to overcome.

Despite shooting the basketball well, Saint Michael’s could not contain Franklin Pierce’s offense as it scored 46 points in the half on 59 percent shooting (17-of-29). All 13 Ravens eventually played in the game with 11 scoring at least a point.

Franklin Pierce has won 35 of its last 36 games overall and 27-straight regular season games dating back to the end of last season. The Ravens are 11-0 since becoming the top-ranked team in the USA Today/ESPN WBCA Division II Top-25 Poll back on Jan. 5. Seven of the team’s last eight wins have come by 20 points or more.

The Ravens return to action Saturday afternoon when they travel to Manchester to face Saint Anselm at 1:30 p.m. Fans who cannot attend the game can follow it online via live stats through the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)