For WNBA Fans

A brief recap of Australia's 83-74 win over Russia for the gold medal. Great finish to the game and likely to the careers of a few decorated women's basketball players.

The lede: Basketball star Lauren Jackson's dazzling $1 million three-year domestic basketball contract is the largest ever awarded to a woman in Australia. But it's not just her bank account that is set to receive a boost from the contract. It has opened the door for women's sport in Australia to bridge the gap that exists between its semi-professional status and genuine professionalism. If only more women would support them. *** I found this editorial interesting in the fact that netballers are Australia's best-paid sportswomen (after excluding LJ's new deal) and average $22,000 per roster spot. Wow. That's crazy!

Lauren Jackson isn't necessarily the story of the Storm's 63-62 win tonight, but her return from injury was impressive not because she "didn't miss a beat" - as some might say - but because she had her best game of the season with a season-high 20 points and a season-high tying 7 rebounds. Not bad for 21:43 minutes of play: she managed to account for 36% of the team's overall statistical production in that time. Maybe this is just what great players do, but people still had lots of nice things to say about her afterward (link above).

Over the six quarters against the Minnesota Lynx (home win) and second half against the Tulsa Shock (road win) the Seattle Storm had actually been playing quite a bit better than they had been with Lauren Jackson. Tonight, they fell back down to earth, struggling to contain Tina Charles early and digging too large a hole to recover from.