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 signed a two-year contract. “Minnesota is my home away from home. I’ve been here for four full summers now. People say Minnesota is close to Canada, but geographically Indiana is closer to my hometown, Chatham. Chicago would be closer, even Connecticut would be closer,” she clarifies.
Despite serving primarily as a bench player, Carleton feels valued in Minneapolis. She loves being a part of this organization and she enjoys living in the city, saying:
The people in Minnesota are similar to Canadians, maybe it’s because of the proximity to Canada. And I just enjoy my teammates and my coaches. There’s been consistency with the coaching staff and the roster, so I’ve built relationships with both. There’s also the familiarity of the city. I love Minnesota, I love the Lynx. It’s a place where I can continue to grow and become a better player.
Improvement involves not backing down against stronger, bigger opponents. Brianna Fraser is 6-foot-3, Carleton is 6-foot-1. Yet, she stood her ground when Fraser was trying to overpower her under the basket. Thanks to Carleton’s defense—with her body straight, her hands up in the air—Fraser was unable to establish a stable shooting position in the interior and her shot bounced off the board. Carleton grabbed the rebound and stormed toward the opposing basket, forcing a foul. She let out a visible “ow!” before she went to the line, where she drained both shots. She would end the day perfect from the charity stripe, with 11 makes in 11 attempts.
On the next two plays, Carleton made two defensive stops. Under the basket, she forced a turnover. Then, behind the 3-point line, the player she was guarding missed her shot. On offense, Carleton lost the ball, but she was not the only one; by the end of the third quarter, her team had 16 turnovers and just 11 assists. The 12th assist came with a minute to go, as Carleton used a screen set by her teammate, got herself free, received the ball, stepped behind the 3-point line and fired from behind the arc. The ball went through the net without touching the rim. She now had 30 points. Her team was up by 11 points, 70-59.
She was the only player on her team who had reached double figures, but it’s not like her team was playing exclusively through her. Sometimes, she gladly served as a decoy, luring whoever was guarding her away from the basket so that other players could score. She’s willing to do whatever it takes not only to support her teammates, but also women’s basketball in general. Over her lifetime, she has seen the approach to the game change for the better, saying:
When I take a step back and look at Canada as I was growing up, there were a couple of good players, but because of lack of media attention and social media, you never heard about them. The only chance to do that was at big tournaments, like the Olympics.
The Olympics are her number one goal for 2024. She’s already been there in 2020. In February, Team Canada qualified for the Games an hour away from Győr, in the Hungarian city of Sopron, when fans who usually root for her were hoping that she would have a bad night when Canada faced Hungary. That didn’t happen, as the Canadians, led by a game-high 18 points from Carleton, defeated the Hungarians 67-55. Despite falling to both Spain and Japan in their subsequent qualifying games, Team Canada punched their ticket to Paris.
Győr’s first points in the fourth quarter came from a Carleton 3. Győr’s Cyesha Goree stood with her back to the basket and Polkowice’s Stephanie Mavunga, still a bit rusty following her return to action, turned to the ball handler, losing track of Carleton, who was behind the 3-point line and moving off the ball to make herself available to her teammate. Carleton caught the ball a bit low, straightened herself up and shot. 75-61. Polkowice responded with a 3 of their own. Carleton then attacked the basket and was fouled. Two free throws, two makes. On the next play, she made a shot from top of the key. Then, she got a steal and was fouled. With eight minutes to go, the score was 79-64.
After the timeout, Carleton again got the ball off a screen. Polkowice switched their assignments, and now Mavunga was standing in front of her. The 6-foot-3 power forward/center was born in Zimbabwe, but, at the age of three, moved to Indiana. She plays for the Polish national team. Back in November, she led them to one of the biggest upsets in EuroBasket Qualifiers, as Poland beat the reigning champs, Belgium. Since that game, Mavunga has been up and down, still battling some health issues, which explains why she didn’t start for Polkowice against Győr that day.
Mavunga is taller than Carleton, but slower. When Carleton took a step back and shot the ball, Mavunga was too far to contest. Another 3 went in, and Győr was up by 18 points. Carleton’s last point came with two minutes left in the game. Polkowice’s Weronika Gajda committed a technical foul and Carleton made the free throw.
With 41 points, she finished the game third on the EuroLeague Women all-time single-game scoring list, behind Lara Mandić and Vicky Bullet. Mandić had 42 points in 2002; Bullet scored her record 48 points in 1996. Yet, in 22 years, no player has scored more points in a single game than Carleton. She was close to breaking both records, but she was not attempting more shots than necessary, despite staying on the court until the buzzer. There was no stat padding on her or her team’s part. Why?
“41-point games are fun, but we have another game in two days. Let’s not get too high about it,” was how Carleton summed up her approach, immediately crediting her mother for instilling that mentality.
Still, a 41-point game is an incredible achievement. On Jan. 17, 2024, Bridget Carleton from Chatham-Kent, Ontario made Canadian and European basketball history. There will be more games to play, more 3-pointers to make and more facetime conversations with the family to have until she finally decides to call it quits. But that 41-point performance by a 26-year-old will remain proof of how special of a player she is.
