Cappie Pondexter, a guard recently traded to the WNBA’s New York Liberty, is a new weapon for the team, armed with quick crossovers and a deadly midrange jumper. She has gained every accolade a professional basketball player could hope for: She was the Big East Conference Women’s Player of the Year at Rutgers, the most valuable player and she made the WNBA All-Star team. She was also the first player in WNBA history to win three consecutive Western Conference Player of the Week awards and has won two championships.

Ever ambitious, Pondexter looks to reach even higher heights with the New York Liberty by bringing New York the championship. Here, she talks basketball, her friendship with LeBron James, fashion and makeup with Aol. Black Voices:
BV: How did you first get started playing basketball? Who taught you to play?

CP: My brother is a basketball player, and he would take me to the park ’cause he had to babysit me, and I’ve just continued from there. I’ve been playing since I was 10, and it’s just something I love to do. My brother is nine years older than me. We never played one-on-one, but I could beat him now [laughs].

BV: What made you choose Rutgers and Vivien Stringer over basketball powerhouses like UConn and Tennessee?

CP: They were in my top five schools when I did my recruiting visits. My last recruiting visit I was supposed to go to UConn, but I canceled it, and I committed to Rutgers. Rutgers was the first school I visited, and I just felt comfortable. Coach Stringer, she’s an awesome lady, very powerful. I felt that from the moment I met her. I’m thankful I went there. We talk weekly. She’s a mother so she understands.

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Thisis50 Sports - Cappie Pondexter From The New York Liberty In The WNBA [Speaks On Growing Up In Chicago, Female Misconceptions On Basketball Players, Fashion…]

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Thisis50 recently sat with professional basketball player “Cappie Pondexter“.
She speaks on growing up in Chicago and how it prepared her for professional basketball at he age of 10. She discusses some of the hardest obstacles she went though growi

ng up and misconceptions people have about female players. She also speaks on goals she wants to accomplish, being into fashion and much more!

Catching Up With … Cappie Pondexter

New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter is ready to do her own thing.

After spending her first four seasons with the Phoenix Mercury and winning two WNBA championships along the way, Pondexter was traded to New York in the offseason in hopes of starting the next chapter of her career.

Pondexter, who leads the Liberty in scoring (19.7) and assists (4.9), is more than just a basketball player. Off the court, she runs an image consulting firm and knows her designers like she knows her competition.

I had the chance to sit down with Pondexter in Los Angeles this week prior to the Liberty’s 80-68 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.

MV: Growing up in Chicago, what are your thoughts about LeBron James possibly going to the Bulls?

CP: Honestly, I think it would be great for the city of Chicago. To have a player like Michael Jordan leave a great legacy and to have someone like LeBron to follow him is awesome. Him and D.Rose together, Joakim Noah … it would be great.

MV: What’s the adjustment been like from Phoenix to New York?

CP: It’s been a transition. I have played with Phoenix since I got drafted so my heart is kind of there. I played with one of the best guards in the country and to leave her was definitely hard but I had to move on. It was time for me to have a career change. Other than that, it’s been great besides not being over .500. I think we are starting to come along.

MV: Why did you want to go to New York?

CP: Honestly, I won two championships and I started a business 1.5 years ago that’s based out of New York. It’s an image consulting business and New York was looking for a franchise player and I thought it was the perfect fit for me.

A GLAM SLAM INTERVIEWS WNBA’S CAPPIE PONDEXTER

A Glam Slam first introduced you to Cappie Pondexter via Who’s Haute. Not only is she one of the WNBA’s biggest and brightest stars, but the New York Liberty point guard is a total fashionista.

A Glam Slam spoke with Cappie at the Blend Showroom in New York City, where this Lady Liberty dished on her style consulting firm, favorite designers and her future in fashion. Take a look:

A Glam Slam and Cappie Pondexter are giving away two tickets to a New York Liberty game at Madison Square Garden, where you can see Cappie in action. One lucky fan will be chosen at random. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Follow A Glam Slam (@HeatherZeller) & Cappie Pondexter (@cappa23; @4SeasonStyleMgt) on twitter
• Visit A Glam Slam’s FB fan page here and Cappie Pondexter’s FB fan page here and become our newest fans

A winner will be announced on Wednesday, July 7th. Good luck!

Pondexter Scores 19 Points To Lead Liberty To 80-68 Victory Over Sparks

AP) LOS ANGELES (AP) - Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points and the New York Liberty pulled away in the third quarter to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 80-68 Tuesday night for their third consecutive victory.

Noelle Quinn scored a career-high 24 points, topping her career-best for the second straight game, to lead the Sparks (3-11). They fell to 0-4 since leading scorer Candace Parker was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

Marie Ferdinand-Harris, who replaced Parker in the starting lineup, added 12 points.

Pondexter continued the tear she’s been on for the last four games, maintaining her 20-point average over that stretch.

Former Sparks player Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 14 points and Plenette Pierson had 13 for the Liberty (7-7), who controlled the boards 35-22 and improved to 2-4 on the road.

New York led 44-35 at halftime, then used a 20-7 run to take its largest lead, 66-45, late in the third quarter. The Sparks chipped away at the deficit in the fourth, but never got closer than 12 points.

The Liberty closed the first half on an 18-9 run. McWilliams-Franklin scored six points and Essence Carson added four.

The Sparks shot 62 percent from the floor in the first quarter, when their biggest lead was five points.

WNBA: PONDEXTER LEADS LIBERTY TO WIN OVER SUN

NEW YORK (AP) — The Liberty did not want to start a three-game West Coast road trip after a loss.

So facing a 16-point deficit, they turned up the defensive pressure Sunday and rallied to beat the Connecticut Sun 77-68. It was the Liberty’s last home game before the July 10 WNBA All-Star game.

“This was big,” Liberty coach Anne Donovan said. “We recognize we need to play well in the Garden … our full-court defense looked pretty good tonight.”

The Liberty looked as if they were going to be run off their home court in the first quarter.

Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points. She said the team started to come together in a 92-78 win against Tulsa on Friday.

“Everybody’s doing their part,” Pondexter said. Especially on defense.

The Liberty held Connecticut to 22 second-half points to take control of the game.

New York’s Nicole Powell had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 10 points.

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WASHINGTON — Had enough of players who master the art of passive-aggressiveness, saying in one breath that they love playing where they are, then grumbling under the next breath that they wouldn’t mind being dealt, if it helps the organization?

Meet Cappie Pondexter, whose DNA is apparently devoid of the passive-aggressive gene or at least any that fudge the truth about where she wants to be and what she wants to do.

After four years with the Phoenix Mercury, Pondexter decided in the offseason that she wanted to be traded.

That, of course, doesn’t make her strange in today’s athletic climate. Where Pondexter is unusual is she actually told someone, namely Phoenix general manager Ann Meyers-Drysdale, that she wanted to leave, and didn’t duck from her request once it became public knowledge.

“Pretty much, I demanded a trade,” said Pondexter, the No.2 overall pick in the 2006 draft out of Rutgers. “I want to finish my career on the East Coast. That’s where I started it. That was pretty much it.”

And, as a result, it’s Pondexter’s image that adorns a side of Madison Square Garden, as the 5-foot-9 inch guard has come to New York as a part of a three-team trade, literally to seek fame and make a fortune, and possibly get the long suffering Liberty to the playoffs and beyond.

“I’m confident in my ability to lead this team,” said Pondexter. “I was brought here for that. I wanted to be here for it and I’m taking the responsibility.”

FULL STORY HERE

THE NEW YORK LIBERTY NEWEST STAR, GUARD CAPPIE PONDEXTER,

HITS THE STREETS OF THE BIG APPLE

KNOW YOUR LIBERTY: CAPPIE PONDEXTER