Fire import ready to go
CANADIAN import Bridget Carleton says she’s ready to hit the ground running in the Fire’s WNBL season opener despite only touching down in Townsville over the weekend.
Carleton trained with her new team for the first time yesterday and she’ll have just two more sessions before taking the court against the Southside Flyers in Dandenong on Saturday.
The versatile 185cm small forward joins the Fire on the back of an excellent performance with Team Canada as they won silver at the FIBA Women’s Americup in Puerto Rico. Carleton averaged 9.2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.7 steals for the tournament and she was confident she could bring that form to the Fire even with such a whirlwind preparation.
“I’ll be ready to do whatever the coach wants me to do,” Carleton said. “I’m excited, I feel good. I’ve been sleeping fine so jet lag hasn’t hit me too hard. We had practice (yesterday) morning for the first time and I’m excited to get with the team.
“Everyone so far has been super helpful and just welcoming. Any questions I have basketball-wise they’re willing to help so the transition’s been smooth so far after one practice. We’ve got two more practices before we play so I’ll get used to it as much as I can. Get used to my team mates and the coach’s system, but I’ll be ready to do whatever I need to.”
Carleton finished her college career last year with a record-breaking season for the Iowa State Cyclones — averaging 21.7 points per game — before she was drafted at No. 21 by the Connecticut Suns in the WNBA. The 22-year-old said she’d always harboured an ambition to play professionally overseas and she believed the Fire was the perfect fit.
“Australia was always high on my list. I graduated last year from college so this was my first year playing professionally and I knew I would just enjoy it here,” Carleton said.
“I’ve heard good things about people who’ve played here before. It’s always been a goal of mine. The Fire have had a lot of success for a number of years and obviously it’s a great location so when they reached out, I couldn’t really turn it down.”
Coach Shannon Seebohm admitted it would be tough to bring Carleton up to speed in just three training sessions, but he was confident the Fire won’t be caught short against the Flyers.
“We could make excuses and we could say it’d be great to have another two weeks, but the reality is we don’t so we have to do everything in our power to get her up to speed and get the group on the same page as quickly as possible to give ourselves a chance to win our first game,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be a test for us, but I’m confident given the character of our players and the commitment that I’ve seen this far into the preseason to do the little things that I think are going to be valuable to us winning games.”