Biography of Cappie Pondexter

The 2007 WNBA Finals MVP, Cappie Pondexter will make her Olympic debut in Beijing. Her first appearance for Team USA in a major international tournament was the 2007 FIBA Americas championships, which the U.S. won and thus qualified for the Beijing Games. Pondexter averaged just 3.0 points a game, but led all players in assists (4.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (6.00). Pondexter was an alternate for the 2006 U.S. World Championships team.

Drafted with the second pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2006 WNBA Draft, Pondexter was voted into the All-Star Game and onto the All-Rookie team her first season, in which she finished fourth in the league in scoring (19.5 points a game). Pondexter's scoring average dropped to 17.2 points in 2007, but she raised that to 23.9 points in her first career postseason as the Mercury won the WNBA title and Pondexter was given the MVP. She also plays overseas for Turkey's Fenerbahce SK club and was named the Euroleague All-Star Game MVP in 2007.

In four years at Rutgers University, Pondexter led the team to the NCAA Tournament each season, and it made the Elite Eight in 2005. After her senior year, in which she averaged 21.6 points, she was named the Women's Basketball News Service National Player of the Year, a finalist for the 2006 Naismith and Wooden awards, and an Associated Press first team All-American. As a freshman, Pondexter helped Rutgers to one of the greatest turnaround in NCAA history, going from 9-20 in 2001-02 to 21-8 in 02-03. Pondexter averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists that season. She graduated from Rutgers with a degree in Africana studies.

The 2001 National Prep Player of the Year as awarded by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and Parade Magazine, Pondexter went to Illinois' John Marshal High School and rang up a 116-8 record in four years. She led the school to a 1998 state title and a 1999 runner-up finish, then became the first Illinois player to be named Miss Basketball twice (2000, 2001).