Leedhams Lead Great Britain Past Serbia, 76-67

Jo. Leedham nets game-high 27 points as Great Britain opens World University Games with victory over host nation

BELGRADE, Serbia (July 1, 2009) - Franklin Pierce University women's basketball standouts Jennifer and Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)) led Great Britain to a 76-67 comeback victory over host Serbia on day one of the 2009 World University Games at Novi Belgrade Sports Hall today.

Great Britain rallied from a 12-point (42-30) halftime deficit to collect the victory, outscoring Serbia 24-7 in the third quarter to carry a 54-49 advantage into the fourth quarter. Britain then posted a 22-18 advantage over the final ten minutes to come away with the win.

Franklin Pierce All-American Johannah Leedham, a member of the Great Britain senior women's national team, led all scorers with 27 points as she made 10-of-19 shots from the field (52-percent), including 4-of-8 (50%) three-pointers, and converted all three free-throw attempts in the game. She also collected four steals, three rebounds and an assist in 26 minutes.

"We were down by 12 points at halftime but when we returned to court we just started chipping away and put a few points on the board," Leedham told the media following the game. "We were down in rebounds and on boards, so we knew we had to up our possession game and communication, especially on defense. It was a great team effort."

Recent Franklin Pierce graduate Jennifer Leedham, who was named assistant coach for the Ravens last month, added nine points on 4-for-6 (66%) shooting from the field, including 1-for-3 (33%) from beyond the arc, four rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes. She is making her first appearance for Great Britain in four years.

Great Britain finished shooting 40.9-percent (27-for-66) from the field on the day and was a perfect 15-for-15 from the free-throw line.

"The opening ceremony is tonight but I'm not sure we can go as we have an early game tomorrow," said Johannah Leedham. "It's been cool so far here; it's like a mini Olympics. It's clearly a great opportunity for us to get good experience of these sorts of events ahead of the Olympics."

The early game up next for Great Britain is a gigantic test against tournament favorites United States, who steamrolled to a 115-30 victory over France in its first game of pool play today, tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. (EDT). Playing without University of Connecticut standout and National Player of the Year Maya Moore, USA was led by Moore's Connecticut teammate Tina Charles with 18 points and six rebounds. Great Britain rounds out pool play on Friday against France at 4 p.m. (EDT).

"The result is definitely a confidence boost ahead of tomorrow's game, but the US are honestly in a different league to everyone else here," said Leedham. "We are still going to go out and think that we can do well but this is about improving and knowing that they're the level we want to be at in three or four years time. We will play with heart, so we will see."

Franklin Pierce women's soccer junior Snezana Stojkovic (Vitojevci, Serbia) and her Serbian teammates had the day off following a 2-1 victory over Canada yesterday. They get back in action tomorrow with a match against Poland at 11:30 a.m. (EDT). Stojkovic, who is keeping a blog for the Franklin Pierce athletics website during the Games, entered the match as a reserve in the 82nd minute of yesterday's win over Canada.