The New York Liberty is considered to be one of the WNBA’s most successful teams.
The coaches and players prepare for the season all year round so that when the regular season is here, they are ready to give their best performance. One such player is the Liberty’s top guard, Cappie Pondexter.
Before the WNBA
Before Pondexter was in the WNBA, she attended John Marshall High School in Chicago where she began making her name known. She started every game her entire high school career and was named Gatorade and USA Today’s 2001 Illinois Player of the Year.
Pondexter was the first player in her state to be twice named Illinois’ Miss Basketball. After being recruited by top colleges, she settled on Rutgers University and continued showing everyone her talent.
In her rookie season, she was named the 2003 Big East Rookie of the Year and averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. During this season, Pondexter played an important role in what became known as the biggest turnaround in Division I. Rutgers record improved from 9-20 during the 2001-02 season to 21-8 in the 2002-03 season. She was also named the 2006 Big East Player of the Year and became the first player in Big East history to be named to the All-Big East First Team all four years. Pondexter was also part of the team that won the 2005 and 2006 Big East Conference.
Last Season
Last season was a great success for Pondexter. In the 34 regular season games, she started in all 34 games and averaged 34.3 minutes per game. She was a key player on the team and this shows in her minutes of play. She was extremely productive in her 34 minutes per game by averaging 21.4 points per game.
In addition to this, Pondexter also contributed with 4.9 assists per game and 4.5 rebounds per game. She was an impressive 48.3% from the field, 89.2% from the free throw line, and 43% from the three-point range.
The team looked to her for leadership and ability to score. In five seasons in the WNBA Pondexter has made a name for herself and will bring her skill and effort into the next season.
Playoffs
Not only was Pondexter very influential in getting her team to postseason play, but she was a key player in continuing their season. During the conference finals, the Liberty played and had two unfortunate losses to the Atlanta Dream. In those two games, Pondexter again showed her worth by starting and playing about 37.5 minutes per game.
She averaged 30 points per game. To go along with her 30 points, she also had 6.5 assists per game and 4 rebounds per game. Her shooting was impeccable as she was 46.8% from the field and 85.7% from the free throw line.
During the conference semifinals, Pondexter played and started in 3 games averaging 37 minutes in each. She had 27.3 points per game, 3.3 assists per game, 4.3 rebounds per game and was 50% from the three-point line.
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