Posted: July 6, 2009
Cappie Pondexter of the Phoenix Mercury was named the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, June 29 through Sunday, July 5. Pondexter shares the award with the Eastern Conferences Tammy Sutton-Brown of the Indiana Fever.
Pondexter earns the third Player of the Week award of her career after averaging 21.5 points on 51.6 percent (16-31) shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists in the Mercurys two wins. She led the league, among players who played in more than one game, in scoring this week and was the only player to place among the leagues top eight for points, rebounds and assists per game. On the strength of Pondexters play, Phoenix moved into first place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the Minnesota Lynx.
Against the Seattle Storm, Pondexter recorded her first double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds) of the season while missing a triple-double by only two assists. She drained four of her six three-pointers for a season high in the game. She followed that performance up with a game-high 21 points in a road win over the Los Angeles Sparks. In that game, she pulled down four rebounds to become the second-fastest player (107 games; Diana Taurasi, 104 games) in league history to record 2,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career.
Pondexter is a two-time WNBA All-Star, a gold-medalist with the 2008 U.S. Olympic Womens Basketball Team and the 2007 WNBA Finals MVP. She currently ranks third in the WNBA in scoring (20.6 ppg) and fifth in assists (4.8 apg).
Sutton-Brown, who averaged 18.0 points on 52.0 percent (13-25) shooting, 11.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks for the week, wins the second Player of the Week award of her career and is the second Fever player in a row to win the award. Sutton-Brown led the WNBA in rebounding and was one of two players (Nicky Anosike) to average a double-double for the week. Her 18.0 points per game led the Eastern Conference, among players who played in more than one game. She steered the Indiana Fever to wins over the Connecticut Sun and Atlanta Dream, extending the teams winning streak to a franchise-record eight games in a row.