MINNEAPOLIS − Just 55 minutes before Wednesday’s Game 3 of the WNBA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, former Iowa State star Bridget Carleton runs into a tunnel at the Target Center and back into the locker room. Carleton, who has finished warming up for the big game, passes fans who have towels, t-shirts and other items that they hope she’ll sign.
“To be in the Finals is really surreal,” Carleton said.
The season has been full of big moments for Carleton, who is enjoying the best season of her WNBA career. Playing in the Finals is just part of her surprising journey. Carleton, one of the best players in Cyclone history (2015-19), was briefly out of a job and had to battle for playing time with the Lynx at one point.
“I dreamed of playing professionally at a high level but I never (expected) being in the league this long and on a really good team right now,” said Carleton, who’s finishing up her fifth full WNBA season.
New York beat Minnesota 80-77 on Wednesday. Despite her team being one loss from elimination in the best-of-five series, things are going better than ever for Carleton. After all she’s been through, she is thriving in the league. She’s doing things she never imagined would be possible during her career.
“I think she’s in the prime of her career,” said Minnesota general manager Clare Duwelius.
More: Des Moines native Clare Duwelius helping build Minnesota Lynx into WNBA Finals contender
Playing in the WNBA wasn’t even on Carleton’s radar when she first got to Iowa State
Playing in the WNBA wasn’t a dream of Carleton’s growing up. Simply watching games was hard enough. Carleton grew up in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, where games were rarely televised. Her first true exposure to the league came when she was around 8 years old and her family went to a Detroit Shock game. Carleton’s older sister was playing at halftime of the game. Carleton snagged an autograph from Ruth Riley.
Instead, Carleton’s aspirations were to play on Canada’s national team and one day make it to the Olympics. The WNBA wasn’t even on her radar until midway through her time at Iowa State. Carleton, who admits she didn’t think she was good enough to play in the league, started seeing her name pop up on WNBA mock drafts.
“I got better and better and then it was kind of on my radar,” Carleton said.
Carleton became a star for the Cyclones. She started for Iowa State as a freshman and rapidly rose up the record books, coming eight points shy of breaking the school’s all-time scoring mark. During her senior season, Carleton was named Big 12 Player of the Year and was the Cheryl Miller Award winner, given to the nation’s top small forward. The Connecticut Sun selected her in the second round of the 2019 draft.
Earning a spot in the WNBA was difficult for Carleton, who survived the last round of cuts and earned a highly coveted roster spot. But keeping a job, as she quickly found out, was just as difficult. The WNBA and its 12 teams have a limited amount of roster spots availabile. The league is known for its experience, with many players hanging on for years.
Carleton learned just how challenging it was. After appearing in just four games with the Sun and averaging 7.3 minutes of playing time, she was cut. Out of work and without a team for the first time in years, Carleton didn’t know what to do.
More: Des Moines native Clare Duwelius helping build Minnesota Lynx into WNBA Finals contender
She went back to Iowa, cleaned out her apartment and moved back to Canada to live with her mom and dad. Carleton attended a camp with Team Canada but spent much of her time at her parents’ house, waiting for the phone to ring. Days passed. Then weeks. Carleton wondered if her career in the league was already over.
“At that point, I was like, I didn’t know if I was going to get another chance in the W,” Carleton said. “So I kind of just focused on the national team and focused on going overseas. I think I had signed to go to Australia so I was kind of focused on the next thing. I wasn’t hopeful.”
Then the Lynx came calling with an opportunity. Coach Cheryl Reeve had seen Carleton play in college and was a fan. She thought with some time and some development, Carleton could become an important contributor.
Carleton, who hadn’t heard from any teams up until that point, hopped on a plane as quickly as possible. She was signed to a seven-day contract and then another deal that kept her with the Lynx for the remainder of the season. But Carleton still had a lot to prove.
“She’s kind of reaping the benefits of her hard work”
The Lynx gave Carleton the opportunity to play. And she has continually taken advantage of it. Carleton, who appeared in four games with the Lynx during that 2019 season, had a breakout season a year later. She got substantial playing time when Sylvia Fowles went down with an injury. During Carleton’s first start, she became just the third player in WNBA history to score 25 or more points and have more than five rebounds in her first start.
“She loves this game so much that she sticks with it,” her mom, Carrie Carleton, said.
Carleton has gotten better every season. She has seen her role evolve from role player to key contributor to borderline star for the Lynx. Carleton, who started just 31 games from 2020-23, has been a starter in all but three of Minnesota’s games this season. She has averaged a career-high 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
“You don’t see people literally hang around for a few years, make a roster and now become … she’s a pretty important player on a really good team,” said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. “You just don’t see that.”
Reeve sensed a big season could be coming for Carleton as she watched her play during the offseason. One play in particular stood out. It happened as Carleton dribbled up the floor and fired up a 3-pointer with a defender near her. It was a closely contested shot that the former Cyclones star typically passed up. Reeve texted her afterward and urged her to take those kinds of shots during Lynx games.
“She came back and she’s kept that,” Reeve said.
That’s what the Lynx hoped to get out of Carleton. At the end of every season, she meets with Reeve about things to work on. Carleton will work on those skills in the offseason by playing overseas.
Reeve said that Carleton has been a perfect fit for the team because of her willingness to do anything they ask. They rewarded her with a two-year deal before this season.
“It’s been really fun to just kind of watch her development,” said Duwelius, a Des Moines native. “Now, she’s kind of reaping the benefits of her hard work.”
Games still aren’t always easy to get in Canada, but Carleton’s mom said they have gotten more accessible. People around Chatham are constantly trying to tune in to see how her daughter is doing.
Things couldn’t be going better for Carleton, who is enjoying perhaps the most memorable season of her career. She played for Canada in the Olympics for the second time and has played an important role for the Lynx, who are vying for their first title since 2017.
During Minnesota’s Game 3 loss, she tallied 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Carleton also had four rebounds. While that type of success may have been a surprise earlier in Carleton’s career, it no longer is.
“It’s just turned into a great story for her,” Fennelly said.
Minnesota will look to tie the series Friday in Minneapolis and force a decisive Game 5 at New York.
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bridget Carleton was cut by the WNBA’s Sun. Now she’s a star with Lynx.
