Cappie Pondexter

Cappie Pondexter
No. 23 – Chicago Sky
Position Point guard
League WNBA
Personal information
Born (1983-01-07) January 7, 1983
Oceanside, California
Nationality American
Listed height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Listed weight 160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school John Marshall Metropolitan
(Chicago, Illinois)
College Rutgers (2002–2006)
WNBA draft 2006 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Phoenix Mercury
Playing career 2006–present
Career history
2006–2009 Phoenix Mercury
2006–2008 Fenerbahçe Istanbul
2008–2012 UMMC Ekaterinburg
2010–2014 New York Liberty
2012–2014 Fenerbahçe Istanbul
2015–present Chicago Sky
2015–2016 Beşiktaş
2016–2017 Girne Üniversitesi
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Team competition
Universiade
2005 İzmir Team competition
U18 and U19
2000 U18 Mar Del Plata Team competition
2001 U19 Brno Team competition

Cappie Marie Pondexter (born January 7, 1983) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was born in Oceanside, California and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Pondexter is known for her scrappy play, quick crossovers and midrange jumpshot. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history.

High school

While growing up in Chicago, Pondexter was a close friend of basketball star Dee Brown.

Pondexter played for John Marshall Metropolitan High School in Chicago where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2001 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored sixteen points, and earned MVP honors.[1][2]

College

Pondexter attended college at Rutgers University. She led the Scarlet Knights to a 97–22 record and back-to-back Big East Championships in 2005 and 2006. She competed in four NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2005. During the 2005–2006 season, Rutgers compiled a 27–5 record, including a 16–0 record in Big East Conference play. Pondexter took home several awards, including the 2006 Women's Basketball News Service National Player of the year. In her career, the guard scored over 2,000 points.

Rutgers statistics

Source[3]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002-03 Rutgers 29 532 47.7 35.8 79.8 5.1 4.9 1.8 0.2 18.3
2003-04 Rutgers 33 592 41.7 38.1 76.9 4.6 4.3 1.8 0.1 17.9
2004-05 Rutgers 27 397 46.0 45.8 79.1 3.5 3.1 1.8 0.3 14.7
2005-06 Rutgers 32 690 48.3 48.8 81.0 4.2 3.2 1.7 0.1 21.6
Career Rutgers 121 2211 45.8 42.6 79.2 4.4 3.9 1.8 0.2 18.3

WNBA career

Pondexter was selected 2nd overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury. As a rookie, she was named to the western conference WNBA all star team.

In 2007, alongside Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor, Pondexter played a key role in the Mercury's championship run, and was named 2007 WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player after averaging 22 points per game during the hard-fought five-game series.

During the 2009 WNBA season Pondexter became the first player in WNBA history to win 3 consecutive Western Conference Player of the week awards. She was also named to her third WNBA All-star team as a Western Conference reserve.

At the end of the 2009 season, Pondexter helped the Mercury defeat the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2 to win the WNBA championship, the second title for the team in 3 years.

In March 2010, Pondexter was traded to the New York Liberty as part of a three-team, multiplayer deal. Pondexter indicated in interviews that she had requested the trade.[4] In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA.[5]

In February 2015, Pondexter was traded to the Chicago Sky for Epiphanny Prince.[6]

In 2016, Pondexter was named in the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the top 20 players of all-time in the WNBA in celebration of the league's twentieth anniversary.

WNBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career high League leader

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2006 Phoenix 32 32 33.4 .442 .373 .853 3.3 3.1 1.2 0.1 1.4 19.5
2007 Phoenix 31 31 31.2 .431 .333 .815 3.6 4.0 0.9 0.3 2.2 17.2
2008 Phoenix 32 32 31.3 .413 .313 .846 3.7 4.2 1.2 0.2 2.9 21.2
2009 Phoenix 34 34 31.6 .460 .358 .881 4.2 5.0 0.9 0.4 2.5 19.1
2010 New York 34 34 34.3 .483 .430 .892 4.5 4.9 0.9 0.1 2.3 21.4
2011 New York 34 34 33.9 .402 .345 .815 4.1 4.7 1.3 0.3 2.7 17.4
2012 New York 34 34 34.2 .435 .327 .867 4.5 4.3 1.3 0.2 3.1 20.4
2013 New York 30 30 34.2 .360 .369 .814 4.5 4.0 1.0 0.1 3.4 16.9
2014 New York 34 34 30.8 .388 .277 .769 3.4 3.9 1.0 0.1 2.6 13.2
2015 Chicago 29 29 30.2 .439 .381 .824 3.8 2.1 0.9 0.2 1.4 15.1
2016 Chicago 33 29 27.4 .429 .362 .882 2.8 2.7 0.9 0.0 1.4 12.9
Career 11 years, 3 teams 357 353 32.1 .426 .352 .843 3.9 3.9 1.1 0.1 2.4 17.7

Postseason

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2007 Phoenix 9 9 33.3 .463 .316 .873 4.8 5.8 1.2 0.1 1.89 23.9
2009 Phoenix 11 11 30.9 .463 .250 .886 3.6 3.5 1.2 0.0 1.45 18.2
2010 New York 5 5 37.2 .440 .480 .903 4.2 4.6 1.2 0.0 1.80 28.4
2011 New York 3 3 34.7 .341 .214 1.000 5.0 5.3 0.3 1.0 2.3 14.3
2012 New York 2 2 33.0 .289 .100 1.000 4.5 5.0 2.5 0.0 1.5 17.0
2015 Chicago 3 1 22.5 .308 .000 1.000 1.0 1.3 0.6 0.0 0.6 6.0
2016 Chicago 5 5 28.1 .407 .200 1.000 1.2 1.8 1.4 0.2 2.2 12.4
Career 7 years, 3 teams 38 36 31.7 .427 .292 .908 4.4 4.0 1.2 0.1 1.7 18.8

Overseas career

The 2006–07 campaign marked Cappie Pondexter's first campaign in Europe. She was a major contributor to the success of the Fenerbahçe Istanbul club. When her side's quarter-final match-up against Ros Casares was tied at 67, Pondexter scored the winning basket with just seconds remaining to lift Fenerbahçe to victory. In that same game, she registered 10 assists and 4 steals. Pondexter was among the top five in scoring throughout the season.

After successful two seasons at Fenerbahçe, Pondexter signed with the UMMC Ekaterinburg club in the Russian Superleague, where she played during the winters of 2008–09 and 2009–10.[7]

She signed again with Fenerbahçe Istanbul for the 2012-13, 2013-14 European seasons.[8]

In 2015, Pondexter signed with Beşiktaş JK for the 2015-16 European season.

In November 2016, Pondexter signed with Girne Üniversitesi for the 2016-17 European season.[9]

USA Basketball

On the international stage, Pondexter was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mar Del Plata, Argentina. The event was held in July 2000, when the USA team defeated Cuba to win the championship. Pondexter averaged 6.6 points per game.[10]

Pondexter was named to the USA Women's U19 team which represented the USA in the 2001 U19 World's Championship, held in Brno, Czech Republic in July 2001. Pondexter scored 11.0 points per game, and helped the USA team to a 6–1 record and the bronze medal.[11]

Pondexter won gold medals with the USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 2005 World University Games,[12] 2003 FIBA World Championship for Young Women, 2002 World Championship for Young Women Qualifying Tournament and 2000 Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament.

Awards and achievements

4 Seasons Style Management

Cappie started her Style Management company 4 Seasons Style Management, which has since style the new urban rock band Guitars N Bandanaz.:[13]

Controversy

In March 2011, Pondexter drew controversy after posting comments on her Twitter account regarding the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.[14] Pondexter tweeted: "What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there [sic] own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes." She later tweeted: "u just never knw! They did pearl harbor so u can't expect anything less."[15] In response to the negative response to her comments, Pondexter replied: "I wanna apologize to anyone I may hurt [sic] or offended during this tragic time. I didnt [sic] realize that my words could be interpreted in the manner which they were people that knw [sic] me would tell u 1st hand im [sic] a very spiritual person and believe that everything, even disasters happen 4 a reason and that god [sic] will shouldnt be questioned. But this is a very sensistive [sic] subject at a very tragic time and I shouldnt [sic] even have given a reason for the choice of words I used. If youve [sic] lost respect for me thats [sic] totally fine but please dont [sic] let me or my words lose the respect of u the WNBA and what it stands for."[16]

Notes

  1. ↑ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
  2. ↑ "WBCA High School All-America Game Team MVP's". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved 22 Sep 2015.
  4. ↑ Phoenix Mercury's Cappie Pondexter initiated trade to New York
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  6. ↑ "Sky send Epiphanny Prince to New York for Cappie Pondexter". Chicago Sun-Times.
  7. ↑ Cappie Pondexter Basketball Career (EuroBasket) Archived October 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ She kept her promise Archived April 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Cappie Pondexter Underlines Girne University
  10. ↑ "Fourth Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team -- 2000". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Fifth FIBA Women's U19/Junior World Championship -- 2001". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Twenty-Second World University Games -- 2005". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  13. ↑ http://www.cappiepondexter.com/CP23-NEWS/2012/08/photo-shoot-with-guitars-n-bandanaz/%5B%5D
  14. ↑ "Cappie Pondexter sorry for tweets". ESPN. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Pondexter Apologizes for Tweet About Japan". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
  16. ↑ "Former Rutgers standout Cappie Pondexter apologizes for Japan remarks on Twitter". Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
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