Sometimes the biggest surprises come in the most unexpected moments. Such was the case for Bridget Carleton and the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night.
Minnesota, which took on the New York Liberty on Wednesday in the fifth game of the 2020 WNBA season held in Bradenton, Fla., saw a breakout performance from the second-year forward to lift the Lynx to a 92-66 win and their third straight victory to improve to 4-1 overall this season.
“Those of us who have been here aren’t surprised that Bridget had the kind of game she had today,” Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve said after the game. “It was a great opportunity for her and she seized the moment.”
Already this season, Minnesota has dealt with some injury issues on the team with forward Karima Christmas-Kelly being lost for the year with an Achilles injury and guard Shenise Johnson missing a last few games with a hamstring injury. Right before tipoff on Wednesday night, the Lynx also announced center Sylvia Fowles would miss the game with a calf injury.
Those absences resulted in some bench player stepping into key roles in Minnesota’s rotation, especially Carleton who found out she was starting 30 minutes before tip-off and took advantage of the opportunity.
Replacing Fowles in the starting lineup, Carleton got the first start of her WNBA career against the Liberty after coming off the bench in the first four games of the regular season while averaging 9.8 minutes, 2.5 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists per contest.
Wednesday night was Carleton’s breakout party in Minnesota, as she got off to a hot start early on in the win and led the Lynx to their fourth win of the 22-game regular season to remain tied for first place in the league standings.
“It was an easy decision (to start Carleton). … It’s a great story for us at this point in the season,” Reeve said. “Bridget had a monster game.”
Carleton led Minnesota with a career-high 25 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a plus/minus of plus-24 in a total of 33-plus minutes. She shot 11-of-16 from the field and went a perfect 3-for-3 from three in the game.
“I was surprised that I got some open looks early and I took advantage of it,” Carleton said. “I just made the right reads and knocked things down when I had the chance.”
The 23-year-old forward, who was drafted by the Connecticut Sun with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft out of Iowa State, played in a total of eight games during the 2019 season. Four of those games came late in the year with Minnesota before he agreed to return to the Lynx in 2020.
Although she hasn’t played a huge role in the Lynx rotation so far this season, that might change moving forward following her breakout and Minnesota’s injury issues on the roster. For Carleton, she’s ready to step up for that challenge as she did in her best performance of her young career Wednesday night.
“Coming into this season, I knew there was going to be an opportunity with the demanding schedule and playing every other day,” Carleton said. “I knew I was going to have a chance to do what I can. I was ready for that and to take advantage of any opportunity I had. … I just stayed ready.”
