For the second time in a fortnight an Australian woman has captured international sporting headlines, setting the biggest domestic basketball and football leagues alight with virtuoso solo performances.
On Tuesday, Liz Cambage set a WNBA record with a 53-point single-game haul, leading her side Dallas Wings to a 104-87 win over the New York Liberty.
In surpassing Riquna Williams’ record of 51, set in September 2013, Cambage has also gone past two of the current greats of the WNBA, Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi, who had recorded marks of 48 and 47 respectively.
It also led to comparisons with the Australian legend and three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, who posted a tally of 47 for the Seattle Storm in 2007.
Including 10 rebounds and five blocks, Cambage’s 37-minute masterclass has earned high praise across the United States not just for her point scoring, with FiveThirtyEight deeming her performance “one of the finer all-around showings the league has ever seen”.
Less than two weeks ago Sam Kerr became the first woman to score more than 50 goals in the National Women’s Soccer League, earning further acclaim in the United States for a player many considered unfairly overlooked for Fifa’s top individual award.
That was rectified in part on Thursday when Kerr was awarded Best International Women’s Soccer Player at the Excellence in Sport Performance Yearly Awards in Los Angeles, ahead of Lieke Martens, Pernille Harder and Jodie Taylor, with Cristiano Ronaldo winning the corresponding men’s award.
It adds to Kerr’s record of most goals in an NWSL season (17), most goals in an NWSL game (four) and most NWSL hat-tricks in a season (two). Only Christen Press (36 goals in 64 games) is close to rivaling Kerr’s goals-per-game rate (51 in 91) from the all-time top 10 goalscorers list.
The West Australian, 24, was named the young Australian of the year for 2018, Asian women’s footballer of the year, ABC sports personality of the year and NWSL most valuable player in 2017.
Cambage was recently selected for the WNBA All-Star game, her second call up after a five-year absence from the US league, adding to her 2011 breakout season selection.
Kerr will once again spearhead the Matildas against Brazil, the US and Japan later this month at the Tournament of Nations. Last year the Matildas shocked the World’s No 1, No 6 and No 8 ranked nations at the inaugural competition, winning all three games with Kerr topscoring with four goals.
