Former Rutgers Stars Headed to WNBA Finals

Sutton-Brown

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Former Rutgers women’s basketball standouts Tammy Sutton-Brown and Cappie Pondexter will face off against each other in the WNBA Finals beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The Scarlet Knight products compete for the Indiana Fever and the Phoenix Mercury, respectively.

Rutgers is one of only two collegiate programs to have representation in the WNBA Finals by more than one player.

Sutton-Brown averaged 9.9 points and 5.9 rebounds during the 2009 season for the Fever. In the playoffs (five games), she has raised her production to 13.4 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 59 percent from the field. Sutton-Brown has scored in double figures in two of the last three playoff games, including a 17- point and seven-rebound performance in the Eastern Conference finals on Sept. 26.

As a collegian at Rutgers, Sutton-Brown (1997-2001) ranks among the best in several all-time categories. She owns a career field-goal percentage of .577, third in the RU record book while coming in fifth in blocked shots and fourth in games played. Sutton-Brown was a member of the first Rutgers team to reach the Final Four (2000).

Pondexter averaged 19.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game this season. In six playoff games, the All-Star is averaging 16 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

The Mercury captured the 2007 WNBA title, winning a deciding fifth game over the Detroit Shock and becoming the first road team to win a title away from home in the WNBA. Pondexter tallied 26 points in the game, shooting 9-of-18 from the floor. She dished out 10 assists and added three rebounds en route to picking up the WNBA Finals MVP trophy.

Pondexter

The 2006 BIG EAST Player of the Year and First Team All-American selection led Rutgers to four NCAA appearances and a perfect 16-0 league record her senior season (2006). She is second all-time in scoring (2,211), third in scoring average (18.3), sixth in assists and ninth in steals in the RU record book. In addition, Pondexter ranks first in three-point accuracy (.426) and is third in three-pointers made (164).

Pondexter and Sutton-Brown are not the only two players coached by Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer to appear in the WNBA Finals. Phoenix center Tangela Smith played for Stringer at Iowa.

Game one of the WNBA Finals is Tuesday, Sept. 29 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. The contest will be broadcast ESPN2.