Bridget Carleton

Biography

Bridget Carleton made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where she was Canada’s leading scorer in their lone group stage win over South Korea. She ended up ranked second on the team in minutes played and points per game. 

Carleton was named to the tournament All-Star Five at the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. She led Canada in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game, as the team finished fourth for their best result at the competition since 1986. She was a member of Canada’s seventh-place team at her World Cup debut in 2018.

Carleton first played for the senior national team in an exhibition series in France in 2014. She joined the senior national team full-time in 2017, helping Canada defend their gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup. She won silver at the 2019 AmeriCup.

In February 2020, she helped Canada go 3-0 in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament to secure their spot at Tokyo 2020. She was second on the team in points per game at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Hungary for Paris 2024. 

Carleton first represented Canada as captain of the cadet team, winning a silver medal at the 2013 U16 Americas Championship. In 2014, she led Canada in both scoring and minutes as they made the quarterfinals at the U17 World Championships. She won silver with the junior team at the U18 Americas Championship in 2014. In 2015 she was again named team captain for the  U19 World Championship in Russia, making another quarterfinals appearance.

Carleton played collegiately for Iowa State from 2016 to 2019. She was a unanimous choice to the Big12 All-Freshman team, highlighted by a school record 28 points in her first game. From her sophomore season onward, she was a unanimous selection to the All-Big12 First Team, starting every game for ISU, who would be a 10th-seed or higher each year at the NCAA Tournament. In her senior year she put together the best scoring season in school history – 760 points. She was named the Cheryl Miller Award winner (honouring the NCAA’s top small forward), the Big12 Player of the Year, a Second Team AP All-American, and member of the Naismith Starting Five. She finished just eight points shy of Iowa State’s all-time points record.

Taken 21st overall in the 2019 WNBA draft by Connecticut. Carleton played a handful of games with the Sun before an early season trade in her rookie year dealt her to Minnesota where she has played ever since. Upon earning a starting role in her second season with the Lynx, Carleton became just the third player in league history to score 25 or more points and have more than five rebounds in her first career start. She has also played professionally in Australia, France, Spain, and most recently, Hungary.

A Little More About Bridget

Getting into the Sport: Won gold with Team Ontario at the 2013 Canada Games… Outside Interests: Majored in Kinesiology at Iowa State University…