Elizabeth Folake "Liz" Cambage ( ; born 18 August 1991) is a British-born Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the Sichuan Yuanda of the

Women's Chinese Basketball Association The Women's Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the WCBA, is the first-tier professional women's basketball league in China. It was established in 2002 as the women's counterpart to the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). ...

. She won the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

in 2011 and 2014 and the

championship in 2024. Cambage currently shares the WNBA single-game scoring record with

A'ja Wilson A'ja Riyadh Wilson ( ; born August 8, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball, South Car ...

, with her 53-point performance against the New York Liberty on 17 July 2018. She played for the Australia national team, the Opals, between 2009 and 2021, winning a gold medal in the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, silver in the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

, and bronze in the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Early life

Cambage was born on 18 August 1991 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

father and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

mother. Her parents separated when Cambage was three months old and she moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with her mother. First settling in Eden in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, the family moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

when Cambage was 10 years of age and later the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

. Cambage is tall. She was teased about her height in school. At the age of 10, she was tall, reaching by the time she was 14. She started playing basketball at her mother's suggestion when she was 10 as a way to make friends.

Professional career

Cambage plays at the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

position in basketball. In 2009, she played in the Under-20 Australian National Championships, and the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

suggested she could be the next

Lauren Jackson Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian former professional basketball player. Arguably the most notable Australian women's basketball player, Jackson has had a decorated career with the Australia women's national basketb ...

. The only international players surpassing Cambage in height at the time were

Margo Dydek Małgorzata Teresa Dydek-Twigg, also known as Margo Dydek (28 April 1974 – 27 May 2011), was a Polish professional basketball player. Standing tall, she was famous for being the tallest professional female basketball player in the world. She ...

, at , and Sue Geh, at tall.

WNBL

Cambage played her junior basketball with

Dandenong Rangers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

, joining their WNBL team for the 2007–08 season. In 2007, she accepted a scholarship to the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS), and played for the AIS team, based in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, in the

(WNBL), for the remainder for the 2007–08 season and the following one In August 2020, Cambage made her return to the WNBL, signing with the

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

for the 2020–21 season.

WNBA

In March 2011, Cambage expressed a reluctance to play for the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

( WNBA) team that drafted her, the

Tulsa Shock The Tulsa Shock were a professional basketball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Detroit, Michigan before the 1998 WNBA season began; ...

, stating, "I don't want to play at Tulsa, I've made that clear. They want to make me a franchise player, but I'm not going to the WNBA for that. I'm going there to learn and improve my game. But what can you do?" She played in the

2011 WNBA All-Star Game The 2011 WNBA All-Star Game was played on July 23, 2011 (3:30pm EDT on ABC) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, home of the San Antonio Silver Stars. The game was the 10th WNBA All-Star Game, which has been held annually since 1999 exce ...

Liz Cambage 2011 WNBA All-Star VIP Party

After the 2012 Summer Olympics, Cambage was due to head back to the United States to complete the WNBA season with the

, but announced on the morning her flight was due to leave, 27 August 2012, that she would not be returning to finish the 2012 season. Her agent released a statement saying she was exhausted after playing for the national team. Cambage returned to play for the Shock for the 2013 season, but did not return to the WNBA for five years after. In February 2018, she signed a multi-year contract with the

Dallas Wings The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group ...

WCBA

In June 2012, Cambage signed with Zheijang Chouzhou basketball club in China, reportedly for a salary of AUS$400,000, which made her one of the highest-paid female basketballers in the world. Yet in an article in the Australian newspaper ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' published on 8 March 2019, Cambage reported being poorly compensated and unable to meet her mortgage payments, noting that she had not been paid since September 2018 after an injury prevented her from playing in China. She was quoted as saying: "It's funny, we make all these sacrifices for our nation, but are we getting looked after properly at the end of the day?"

Return to WNBA

In February 2018, Cambage signed a multiyear contract with the

. On 17 July 2018, in a game against the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

, Cambage scored a WNBA record 53 points (the mark was later tied by A'ja Wilson). The Wings won the game, 104–87. Cambage was voted into the

2018 WNBA All-Star Game The 2018 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game played on July 28, 2018. The Minnesota Lynx hosted the WNBA All-Star Game for the first time. Rosters Selection On June 5, the WNBA announced that 2018 would have a new roster select ...

, making it her second all-star appearance. Following her 53-point performance, she scored 35 points in a 90–81 victory over the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

, making it the highest two-game point total in league history. By the end of the season, Cambage led the league in scoring and the Wings finished with a 15–19 record as the number-eight seed in the league. In the first-round elimination game, the Wings lost, 101–83, to the Phoenix Mercury. On 22 January 2019, Cambage requested a trade from the Wings. On 16 May 2019, she was traded to the Las Vegas Aces. During the 2019 season, Cambage was voted into the All-Star Game, making it her third all-star appearance. At the end of the season, the Aces finished 21–13 and the number-four seed, receiving a bye to the second round. In the second-round elimination game, the Aces advanced to the semifinals after defeating the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

, 93–92, off a play by teammate Dearica Hamby in which she came up with a steal and nailed a desperation three-pointer from half court. In the semifinals, the Aces' playoff run came to an end as they were defeated by the eventual champions, the

, in four games. On 5 July 2020, the team announced that Cambage would sit out the 2020 WNBA season due to health concerns and pre-existing risk factors surrounding the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

after an evaluation by the team doctor. Without Cambage, the Aces finished the season 18–4 with the number-one seed in the shortened 22-game season, they reached the finals, but were swept by the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

. On 23 May 2021, during a game against the Connecticut Sun, opposing coach Curt Miller lobbied the referee for a foul call on Cambage, while hyperbolically claiming Cambage was "300 pounds". Cambage responded with a post on Instagram, calling out Connecticut Sun coach Curt Miller, calling him a "little white man". Cambage signed with the Los Angeles Sparks on 15 February 2022. During the 2022 season, though, at Cambage's request, she was released on 26 July by the Sparks from her contract. Three weeks later, on 15 August 2022, Cambage announced she was stepping away from the WNBA.

Maccabi Bnot Ashdod (2023)

On 3 March 2023, it was announced that Cambage had signed a contract with the Israeli women's basketball club Maccabi Bnot Ashdod, marking Cambage's first appearance in an Israeli basketball league after playing for teams in Australia, the United States and China.

Sichuan Yuanda (2024–present)

In 2024, Cambage returned to the WCBA and signed with Sichuan. In 18 games, she averaged 23.1 points and 11.3 rebounds, helping the team to the WCBA championship. In June 2024, she resigned with the team for the 2024–2025 season.

National team career

In 2009, Cambage was a member of the Australian junior women's national team that won a gold medal at the Oceania World Qualification series, This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page. and a silver medal at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan. The following year, she was a member of the Australian junior women's team that competed at the World Championships in Thailand. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page. Her first call up to the senior national side was in 2008, and she had her first cap for the Australian Opals in 2009 in a test series against China, went she played in the third game in the series. On 2 September 2009, she played in the Canberra hosted return game against New Zealand in the Oceania Championship, and she was a member of the Australian senior women's team that won a gold medal at the Oceania World Qualification Series. She was a member of the national team again in 2010. In June 2010, she was viewed by national team coach Carrie Graf as one of a quartet of strong players that would represent Australia in a tour of China, the United States and Europe. In 2010, she participated in the Salamanca Invitational Basketball Tournament in Spain. Her team beat Spain 85–64. They also beat the United States. She scored 20 points in the game against Spain. In 2010, she was a member of the senior women's national team that competed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic. She was important to the team's success. In July 2010, she participated in a four-day training camp and one game test match against the United States in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, but missed the Olympic qualification series in July 2011 because of WNBA commitments. Nonetheless, she was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team. In February 2012, she was named to a short list of 24 eligible players to represent Australia at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In late April and early May 2012, she was one of four Australian "big" players to participate in a special training camp for the team, and participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport. Cambage was seen as a key component if Australia was to beat the United States in

. At the 2012 Olympic Games on 2 August, Cambage successfully dunked the basketball with one hand in a 70–66 victory over

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Cambage and the Opals won a bronze medal in London with an 83–74 win over Russia. Just before the 2014 World Championships, she ruptured her Achilles tendon, causing her to miss eight months of playing time. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, she was the leading scorer and rebounder for the team that reached the quarterfinals. She was also part of the Australian team that won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Misconduct

Cambage was named to the national team for the Tokyo Olympics, but withdrew from the team in July 2021, less than two weeks before the tournament. She stated this was due to mental health issues. In May 2022, reports alleged that Cambage had racially taunted players on the Nigerian team during a pre-Olympics training game, telling the Nigerian players, "Go back to your third world country."

OnlyFans

She has now started her

OnlyFans OnlyFans is an Internet content subscription service based in London, England. The service is widely known for being popular with sex workers who produce pornography, and also hosts other content creators including athletes, musicians, and com ...

page. She has revealed that she made more money upon starting an

page than in her entire basketball career.

Statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

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2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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Playoffs

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WCBA

Regular season

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Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

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References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambage, Liz 1991 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian expatriate basketball people in China Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Australian people of Nigerian descent Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Basketball players from London Basketball players from Melbourne Beijing Great Wall players British emigrants to Australia Centers (basketball) Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in basketball Dallas Wings players Dandenong Rangers players English emigrants to Australia Las Vegas Aces players Los Angeles Sparks players Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Melbourne Boomers players Olympic basketball players for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in basketball Shanghai Swordfish players Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Tulsa Shock draft picks Tulsa Shock players WNBA All-Stars Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Southside Flyers players People educated at Padua College (Melbourne) 21st-century Australian sportswomen Australian sex workers OnlyFans creators

Early life

Professional career

WNBL

WNBA

WCBA

Return to WNBA

Maccabi Bnot Ashdod (2023)

Sichuan Yuanda (2024–present)

National team career

Misconduct

OnlyFans

Statistics

WNBA

Regular season

Playoffs

WCBA

Regular season

See also

References

External links