Makeba Ponder, a 5’8” guard for the Colquitt County Lady Packers, learned how to play basketball the hard way. When she was just a little girl, she started playing against the much older boys in her neighborhood. Her opponents refused to take it easy on Ponder – if she was going to play with men, she would have to play like men. “It made me tougher and it made me a better all-around basketball player. I had to teach myself how to play. I learned the game on my own,” she recalls.
Those lessons set a foundation for Ponder that helped her become one of the best female basketball players to ever grace the halls of Colquitt County High School. An All-Region selection and former co-Region Player of the Year, Ponder has a chance to score her 2,000th point this season. She hopes to add a region championship and a deep playoff run to her senior season resume, maybe something that will surpass last year’s appearance in the Sweet 16 of the state tournament.
As Ponder has continued to improve her game, she has learned the importance of playing well at both ends of the floor. She considers her growing defensive prowess one of the keys to her success at Colquitt County. Ponder has played varsity every year. She has always been a prolific scorer but she wasn’t particularly adept at defense when she arrived on campus. Little by little, she has gotten better and better defensively. As her defensive skills have improved, her playing time increased. And her offensive production began climbing as well. “I played a little when I was in ninth grade but not much. It was because I couldn’t play defense. I got better on defense and I started playing more. I also started making more shots. My defense helped create my offense,” she says. Last season, Ponder averaged 20 points, five rebounds and three assists per game. Early in the season, she’s averaging 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists each night.
Ponder has already enjoyed a great career with the Lady Packers, but a region championship has eluded her even though Colquitt advanced to the Sweet 16 last year. Ponder would like to fix that this year and go even farther in the playoffs. It’s always difficult for South Georgia schools to compete with the metro area programs but the Lady Pack showed they could play with the best in the state last year, losing to Langston Hughes in double overtime after beating McEachern, 54-49, in the first round. Ponder says her game was a little off against Langston Hughes.
Playing in the Sweet 16 remains her biggest moment as a Lady Packer. “I didn’t shoot well that night so I put the ball in hands of my teammates,” she says. “At the end of the game, we were down by three points. The play was supposed to go to me but I wasn’t open. Our point guard got the ball to someone else and she made the three to tie,” recalls Ponder. The shot sent the game into overtime, with neither team gaining an advantage in the extra period. In the second overtime, Langston Hughes pulled away for a 59-52 win. “We just ran out of gas. It had been a long time since we had made it that far. It was a great experience.”
Several big schools went after Ponder, including programs from the SEC and ACC. She decided to sign with Georgia State, one of the first schools to contact her. “I had a few offers but I really liked Georgia State. The program is good and I enjoyed being around their coaches. I really felt like I could fit in well with that team,” she says.
Ponder plans to play basketball for as long as she can. When her basketball career ends – whenever that may be – she plans to seek a career in education. Ponder will major in special education at Georgia State, then teach and coach. For the time being, she is focused on her senior season at Colquitt County High School. She still has a lot of work to do, her 2,000th point to score, and, hopefully, a region title to win.
Makeba Ponder is a gifted athlete who could no doubt play any one of a number of sports. She has chosen to spend her last couple of years in high school focused on basketball and nothing else. Through middle school and her first two years of high school, she also ran track. Last year, she decided to devote all her time to basketball. “I knew that’s where my future would be so that’s where I decided to focus my time,” she says.
Favorites:
• Team besides Georgia State: University of Connecticut
• Player: Kevin Durant and Maya Moore
• Sport you wish you could play: Softball
• Subject: Math
• Least favorite subject: Literature
• Last movie: Love and Basketball
• Place to travel: California
• Person to meet: LeBron James
• Superpower: Dribbling superpowers
Player Spotlight/South Georgia/January 2014
Makeba Ponder
Colquitt County High School
Moultrie, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Photography by: Connie Southwell
Colquitt County’s Makeba Ponder hopes to lead Lady Packers to a title
