Canada's Bridget Carleton re-signs with WNBA's Lynx following break-out year

Canada's Bridget Carleton re-signed with the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday.

Carleton, 23, is coming off a career-best season, having played 22 games, including 15 starts, to help guide the Lynx into the playoffs, before bowing out to eventual champions Seattle Storm in the semis.

The six-foot-one native of Chatham, Ont., began the season on the bench, until injuries thrust her into the limelight on Aug. 5.

The Team Canada forward rose to the occasion, scoring a career-best 25 points and securing seven rebounds.

It was a historic night.

WATCH | Carleton pours in 25 points in victory:

Only three other players in the past 20 years have managed to put up those kinds of numbers in their first WNBA start.

In just her second season, Carleton would go on to start 14 more times for the Lynx, averaging a career best 6.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 25.8 minutes per contest, while shooting 52 per cent from the floor and 45.7 per cent from beyond the arc.

WATCH | Carleton says she had fun in 1st career start:

Originally selected 21st overall by the Connecticut Sun in the second round of the 2019 WNBA draft, Carleton arrived in Minnesota in August of the same year on a seven-day contract.

Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.