Lynx Offseason Update Vol. 17: Shepard and Carleton Impress, McBride Misses Postseason Contest

With the WNBA Draft this week, the new season is about a month away from beginning with training camps commencing in just a few more weeks.

It’s almost time for the return of professional women’s basketball, but a few Minnesota Lynx players haven’t taken any time off since the conclusion of last WNBA season while playing overseas in Turkey, Italy and Spain.

Kayla McBride, Jessica Shepard and Bridget Carleton have continued to represent the Lynx for their respective teams around the globe, with Tiffany Mitchell also participating in overseas action in Australia until her season game to an end a few weeks ago.

Last week in the 16th edition of our Lynx Offseason Update, McBride, Shepard and Carleton had their seasons and postseason runs continue, hoping to extend those runs to finish the year strong before returning to Minnesota. This week, Shepard returned to double-double form in the playoffs, Carleton posted a pair of double-digit scoring totals and McBride sat out of a playoff contest while preparing for the rest of the postseason.

Let’s take a look at how the Lynx have performed overseas in the 17th edition of our Offseason Update.

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Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

Kayla McBride

Fenerbahçe — EuroLeague — Istanbul, Turkey

Over the last week, Fenerbahçe completed one Turkey-KBSL postseason game while still awaiting the start of the EuroLeague semifinals. McBride, however, didn’t play in that lone playoff contest on April 3 that saw Fenerbahçe advance to the semifinals of the Turkey-KBSL playoffs.

This offseason, McBride is averaging 19.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals over 29.2 minutes in 19 Turkey-KBSL appearances. She has also averaged 15 points, 3.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 33.6 minutes during 16 EuroLeague games this offseason.

Up next for Fenerbahçe is the semifinal round in both the Turkey-KBSL and EuroLeague. McBride and her Turkish squad will return to action over the next week as one of the final four teams in both of those leagues.

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Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images

Jessica Shepard

Umana Reyer Venezia — Italy Serie A1/EuroCup — Venice, Italy

Shepard and Umana Reyer Venzia kicked off play in the Italy Serie A1 quarterfinals over the last week, beginning a series battle against Ragusa.

In the first and only game of the series thus far on April 7, Shepard posted 22 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and one steal over 30 minutes during a 69-52 win. That double-double was Shepard’s 13th of the year in Italy Serie A1 play.

This offseason, Shepard has averaged 20.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 28.3 minutes over 23 Italy-Serie A1 games. She has averaged 16.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 29.8 minutes in 12 EuroCup games.

Up next for Umana Reyer Venezia and Shepard is the resumption of the quarterfinal round of Italy Serie A1 action against Ragusa on April 11.

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Bridget Carleton

Perfumerías Avenida — EuroLeague — Salamanca, Spain

Carleton appeared in a pair of games with Perfumerías Avenida this week, taking the floor in two Spain-LF Endesa contests against Ensino on April 5 and Valencia on April 9.

Against Ensino, Carleton posted 12 points, three rebounds and one steal over a season-low 14 minutes during a 91-47 blowout win. On April 9 against Valencia, Carleton neared a double-double performance with 16 points, seven rebounds and one steal in 28 minutes in an 86-78 victory.

So far this offseason, Carleton has averaged 10.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 steals in 25.4 minutes in 19 Spain-LF Endesa games, while averaging 10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals in 30.8 minutes during 12 EuroLeague contests.

Up next for Carleton and Perfumerías Avenida is a showdown with Jairis on April 15 in Spain-LF Endesa play.

As always, thank you for reading another edition of our Lynx Offseason Update. See you back here next week for another update on the Lynx players.