A single game of basketball, with timeouts, is more or less 2 hours long, but there’s always so much more time, effort and energy involved to make the event truly special. In Part III of this three-part profile, we take a deep dive into Bridget Carleton’s 41-point game on Jan. 17, 2024, between Serco UNI Győr and KGHM BC Polkowice, to show what needed to happen for a Canadian woman to make European basketball history.
Győr is way different than Minnesota, where Bridget resides in the summers during the WNBA season. She was originally drafted by the Connecticut Sun with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. When asked about playing in Uncasville, CT in Mohegan Sun Arena immediately after the draft, Carleton said, “I’m excited to go to Connecticut. I just want to play for a team that wants me there, so I’m looking forward to meeting everyone there and getting to Connecticut.”
Despite being praised by then-Sun coach head Curt Miller as “the Swiss Army knife of this draft class,” she was released after appearing in just four games. A total of 29 minutes, one assist and three rebounds was not how she wanted to end her time in the WNBA.
Luckily, Minnesota Lynx picked her up the same year, and she’s been with the Lynx ever since. In 2024, she…
