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South Easton, Mass. – Franklin Pierce University junior Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) scored 22 points in the second half to help lift the Ravens past Bentley University 93-81 Sunday afternoon to claim the team’s first-ever Northeast-10 Women’s Basketball Championship. Franklin Pierce earned an automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division II Tournament.

Leedham finished with a game-high 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists in the victory and was named the Championship Most Valuable Player. Joining Leedham on the All-Championship team was teammates Jennifer Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) and Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I.). Gaudet finished with 19 points from 5-of-5 shooting and connecting on 6-of-8 free throw attempts.

Bentley’s Kristy McLean (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Kim Brennan (Locust Valley, N.Y.) were named to the All-Championship team as well. McLean finished with a team-high 19 points, while Brennan scored 15 after shooting 7-of-13 from the field.

Both teams battled back and forth in the first in which saw two lead changes and a tied score five times. Bentley led by four points midway through the half with a 16-12 advantage as senior Angela Manfredi (Burton, Ohio) shot 6-of-8 from the field for a first-half high of 17 points.

Franklin Pierce would later go on a 13-5 run capped off by a three-point basket by senior Vanessa Power (Mildura, Australia) to give the Ravens a 31-23 advantage with just over five minutes remaining in the half. Power finished with ten points, shooting 3-of-3 from the three-point line. Franklin Pierce entered halftime with a 40-33 advantage.

In the second half, Bentley cut the Franklin Pierce lead to 52-51 as McLean drained a three-point basket at the thirteen-minute mark. However, the Ravens went on a 13-2 run capped off by a Johannah Leedham three-pointer to give Franklin Pierce the first double-digit lead of the game with a 65-53 advantage.

Franklin Pierce led by as much as 14 points after a Toby Martin (Wayne, Maine) three-pointer with less than four minutes to play in regulation. Martin finished the game with 11 points after shooting 5-of-9 from the field.

Bentley did however cut the lead to eight points with less than two minutes to play after Shatasia Kearse (Framingham, Mass.) connected on a jumper in the paint with the score 87-79 in favor of Franklin Pierce.

The Ravens held on though holding the Falcons to only two points in the final 1:58 of regulation to secure the 93-81 victory.

With the victory, Franklin Pierce improves to 24-5 overall, while Bentley is now 21-11 on the year. As mentioned Franklin Pierce received the Northeast-10’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament, while Bentley should be a lock to receive an at-large bid later this evening.

The NCAA Division II selection show will be aired on NCAA.com at 9 p.m.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

- NE-10 -

2009 Northeast-10 Women’s Basketball All-Championship Team

Kim Brennan – Bentley
Kristy McLean – Bentley
Cynthia Gaudet – Franklin Pierce
Jennifer Leedham – Franklin Pierce
Johannah Leedham – Franklin Pierce
MVP – Johannah Leedham – Franklin Pierce