Three Ravens Set to Participate in World University Games in Belgrade
Stojkovic to represent host
country in women's soccer, will blog for Franklin Pierce
website
Leedham sisters ready to lead Great Britain in women's
basketball
World University Games Website
Stojkovic's World University Games Blog
RINDGE, N.H. (June 30, 2009) - Three members of the Franklin Pierce University athletics community are getting ready to represent their countries at the 2009 World University Games starting tomorrow in Belgrade, Serbia, and continuing through July 12.
Sophomore Snezana Stojkovic (Vitojevci, Serbia), a junior to be on the Franklin Pierce women's soccer team, will be representing the host country of Serbia, while sisters Jennifer and Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)) will be representing Great Britain in women's basketball. Jennifer Leedham is a 2009 graduate of Franklin Pierce and was recently named assistant coach for the University's women's basketball team, while Johannah, a three-time All-American and 2008 State Farm/WBCA Division II Player of the Year, is returning for her senior season for the Ravens this fall.
Stojkovic, who will be blogging for the Franklin Pierce athletics
website over the next two weeks, and her Serbian teammates have
been drawn into Group A with China, Canada and Poland. Serbia
kicked off the Games with a 2-1 victory over Canada this morning
and will continue with Poland on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. (EDT),
before taking on China on Saturday at 4:30 a.m. (EDT). The medal
and consolation rounds start on Monday, July 6. Stojkovic entered
as a reserve in the 82nd minute of today's win over Canada.
Stojkovic, who recently attended the NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., has appeared in 16 matches, with three starts, over two seasons for Franklin Pierce. She collected her first career point with an assist in Franklin Pierce's 4-3 comeback win at Le Moyne College last fall.
The Leedham's and the Great Britain women's basketball team have been drawn in Group A with host Serbia, the United States and France. Great Britain opens the Games tomorrow against Serbia at 6:30 a.m. (EDT), before taking on University of Connecticut standout and Wade Trophy Winner Maya Moore and USA on Thursday at 6:30 a.m. (EDT), then rounding out pool play against France on Friday at 4 p.m. (EDT). The women's basketball medal and consolation rounds open on Sunday, July 5.
Johannah Leedham, a member of Great Britain's senior women's
national team, is a three-time All-American for Franklin Pierce.
She owns no less than 28 program records at Franklin Pierce and
enters her senior season with 2,135 career points, just 54 shy of
the Northeast-10 record of 2,189 set by American International
College's Juana Garcia (1992-96) and 375 shy of the program record
of 2,564 set by University Hall of Famer Shelia Lindsay (1984-88).
Leedham, the Daktronics East Region and NE-10 Player of the Year for the second-straight season, led the NE-10 in scoring for the third-straight season last winter, breaking her own single-season program scoring average record with 23.5 points per game (5th nationally), to go with 6.1 rebounds (19th NE-10), 3.2 assists (14th), 3.1 steals (1st) and 1.3 blocked shots (7th) per contest. She broke her own single-season scoring record with her 799 points scored this season, matching the Northeast-10 record and marking the 16th-best single-season total in Division II history. Leedham is the only player in program history to post three seasons with 100-plus steals, finishing with 105 for the season, having shattered the program's career mark with 316 over her three seasons.
Jennifer Leedham, named assistant coach at Franklin Pierce earlier
this month, returns to national team duty for Great Britain for the
first time in four years with her selection to the University Games
squad. She was a two-time All-Northeast-10 selection over her
four-year career at Franklin Pierce and was named the Conference's
Defensive Player of the Year this past winter. Leedham also earned
Daktronics All-East Region second team and ECAC Division II
All-Star status in helping lead the Ravens to the NE-10 regular
season and tournament titles.
Leedham, a four-year starter and two-year captain for Franklin Pierce, finished her career ranked among career leaders at the University in several categories. She became the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 points early in her senior season, finishing ranked seventh all-time with 1,386 career points, while also ranking second all-time with 522 career assists and 255 career steals.
Stojkovic and the Leedhams join women's soccer All-Americans Sonya Hughes and Laura Hislop (Ireland) and Gabriela Demoner (Brazil) and men's basketball player Tom Sadler (England) as Franklin Pierce student-athletes to compete at the World University Games.
