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Bridget Carleton is ready for her WNBA Finals moment
BROOKLYN, New York (October 13, 2024) — It’s morning shootaround at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Bridget Carleton is getting up shots on a nearly empty court, sinking jumper after jumper. Rocking her signature shooting sleeve — originally worn to cover stitches on her elbow — she’s now added a calf sleeve, a sign of the wear and tear of a deep postseason run.
Just 46 hours ago, the Chatham, Ontario star was celebrating a game five win against the Connecticut Sun to send the Minnesota Lynx to a seventh WNBA Finals appearance, their first since 2017.
Carleton is playing the best and most consistent basketball of her career. The Canada Senior Women’s National Team (SWNT) veteran averaged 9.6 points per game during the regular season and more than doubled her three-point attempts, knocking down some of the most clutch shots during the season's final stretch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BC OFF BALANCE IS STILL BC BUCKETS <a href="https://t.co/pGJcRz1E8b">pic.twitter.com/pGJcRz1E8b</a></p>— Crina Mustafa (@crinamm) <a href="https://twitter.com/crinamm/status/1837989737958957187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Canadian star’s journey to this point was nothing short of up and down. After getting drafted by the Connecticut Sun in 2019, Carleton’s journey led her to Minnesota, where Minnesota’s head coach and President of Basketball Operations, Cheryl Reeve, knew that Carleton belonged.
At the beginning of the year, Carleton signed a two-year extension with the Lynx, putting Minnesota in a great position to be a serious contender this year.
“This Bridget is the one we've always envisioned,” said Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve. “It's a really good lesson on being patient with a player when you know that the core of who they are as a person and as a player is a good fit…that's not an easy person to walk away from.”
Coach Reeve stresses that the organization has always pushed to bring Bridget back and encourage her to take the next step in her game.
“I push her like crazy,” said Coach Reeve. “I'm on her; she takes it. She wants it. She wants to be great, and I love me some Bridget Carleton.”
Fast-forward to Thursday night, and the Lynx are up 1-0 in the series against the New York Liberty following an overtime thriller.
Carleton says consistency has been the key to taking the next step in her basketball play this year. “I’ve gone overseas every year and continued to work on things that I want to get better at for this team,” she said.
During the Olympic break, Carleton averaged 13.3 PTS, 6.3 REB, 2.0 AST, and 2.0 steals per game on 40.0 percent shooting from the field for Canada’s SWNT.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A BC performance 👏 <br><br>With a team-high 19 points & five-made three-pointers, <a href="https://twitter.com/bridgecarleton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bridgecarleton</a> earns <a href="https://twitter.com/ToyotaCanada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ToyotaCanada</a> Drive of the Game Honours<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paris2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Paris2024</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SWNT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SWNT</a><a href="https://t.co/QS7pdtkK7y">pic.twitter.com/QS7pdtkK7y</a></p>— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanBball/status/1819014229896122488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Being with the Lynx for a long time, knowing what Cheryl wants out of me and then her having the confidence in me to play more minutes and be relied upon to take more shots helped me evolve as a professional and get the confidence to grow with that,” said Carleton.
Carleton may have only scored five points in game one, but her presence on the floor extended far beyond the box score.
She makes life tough for her opponents on the defensive side of the floor, knowing that closing out defensive possessions sets up her team to get into a rhythm on offence, often disrupting her opponent’s actions. In game one, Carleton guarded nearly every player on the floor.
“[Bridget] is one of the best people you’ll ever meet,” said 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Napheesa Collier.
“...Which is why when people fight with Bridget I just don’t understand because she’s the nicest person ever (laughs).”
On the other hand, Carleton finds amusement in these situations. “I think it's funny,” she said. “First of all, I'm not confrontational at all, but I obviously play hard and I like getting under other people's skin, making things difficult for people.”
“So I understand why people get angry or feisty a little bit. And then to me, it's just not funny, but I'm just like, okay, I got you. You're mad. That means I'm doing something right, making things difficult.”
“Bridget’s awesome,” said Collier, who also has a close relationship with Carleton off the court.
Carleton was one of Collier’s bridesmaids at her wedding, and the Defensive Player of the Year had nothing but great things to say about Bridget.
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“The words I would use to describe [Bridget] are constant and glue. She is just one of the people that holds this team together. Day in and day out, you know what you’re getting from her.”
With game two on deck for Sunday at 3 p.m. EST, Carleton and the Lynx will look to steal another game on the road before heading home to Minnesota with a championship in sight.
“Obviously, it’s so hard to get there - this league is so good, and Canadian-wise, there's only been so many of us that have played in the league,” said Carleton, who is two wins away from becoming the second Canadian in WNBA history to win a championship, behind Tammy Sutton-Brown and the Indiana Fever in 2012.
“To [potentially] be the second Canadian to win a WNBA championship would be really, really cool.”
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