Chatham native Bridget Carleton is back with the Minnesota Lynx.
The WNBA team announced on Tuesday that the forward has signed the qualifying offer extended by Head Coach and General Manager Cheryl Reeve. Terms of the deal were not released because it's a team policy.
Carleton, 24, averaged 4.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 19.3 minutes per game for the Lynx during the 2021 season. She was one of two Lynx players to appear in all 32 games and had 10 starts in her third WNBA season. She shot 40.1 per cent from the floor, ranked third on the team in three-point field goal percentage at 36.5 per cent and hit 80 per cent from the free-throw line.
Carleton made her Olympic debut during the 2020 Tokyo games, and averaged 11.3 points per game, shot 43.3 per cent from the field, had a team-high six rebounds per game and had 3.3 assists per game in three games played.
Carleton was drafted by Connecticut in the second round (21st overall) of the 2019 WNBA Draft. She arrived in Minnesota on a seven-day contract on August 22, 2019 and was signed for the remainder of the 2019 WNBA season on August 29, 2019. She re-signed a one-year contract with Minnesota on May 26, 2020 and accepted a qualifying offer for the 2021 season on January 9, 2021.
Carleton played in all 22 games during the 2020 season and had 15 starts. During that time she averaged a career-best 6.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists, playing an average of 25.8 minutes a game while shooting 52 per cent from the floor and 45.7 per cent from three-point range.
She made a big splash during her first career start on August 5, 2020 by scoring a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds, becoming the fifth Lynx player to score 20 or more points in her starting debut.
The 6-foot-1 forward is currently playing overseas with Israel’s A.S. Ramat HaSharon. She has appeared in 12 games and is averaging 16.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 20.5 minutes of playing time per game.