Cappie Pondexter (4/19/2006) - Athlete Awards - Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Skip To Main Content

Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association

Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
Home of the Haggerty Award
WPOY Cappie Pondexter 2003-06 (Rutg) hs

Cappie Pondexter

  • Award
    Women's Player of the Year
  • Week Of
    4/19/2006
  • Sport
    Women's Division I
  • School
    Rutgers
  • Year
    Senior
  • Position
    Guard
  • Hometown
    Chicago, Ill.
  • High School
    John Marshall
Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers capped off a remarkable collegiate career as one of the best to grace the hardwood of the RAC, winning her fourth-consecutive Met Basketball Writers Association Division I Women's Player of the Year honor. Pondexter is the only four-time winner amongst all six divisions of the MBWA .  813

The NIT/MBWA awards dinner was held on April 19, at the Giants Stadium Club in East Rutherford, NJ.

A unaniomous Big East Player of the Year selection, Pondexter was also a First Team Kodak/WBCA All-American and was the 2006 Women's Basketball News Service National Player of the Year.

Pondexter's list of honors collected as a Scarlet Knight are long and distinguished. During her career, the Chicago native averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 121 games played. Her name is scattered all across the Rutgers record book, including ranking second in all-time scoring (2,211, 14th on the All-Met list), first in three-point field goal percentage (.426), sixth in assists (470), and as one of three Scarlet Knights to pour in 40 or more points in a game.

As a senior, Pondexter was named a finalist for all three major national player-of-the-year awards (State Farm Wade Trophy, Naismith, and Women's Wooden Award), the Bayer Advantage Senior CLASS Award and the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard) with a 21.6 scoring average. Her performance helped lead the Scarlet Knights (27-5) to the NCAA Sweet 16.

The highest WNBA draft pick in school history, taken second by the Phoenix Mercury in 2006, Pondexter's career continued to shine following her days at Rutgers. Before retiring in 2018, she became a two-time WNBA champion (Phoenix Mercury 2007, 2009), a seven-time All-Star and was named one of the 20 greatest players in the 20-year history of the league. Pondexter became the seventh player in WNBA history to score more than 6,000 career points.

In addition to Pondexter's exceptional WNBA accolades, she left Rutgers as the fourth all-time leading scorer in Big East history (6811) and was voted as one of the top 15 players of all-time by the fans, scoring over 500 points in each of her four seasons at RU.

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