An already big day for the Iowa State women’s basketball team just got bigger.

Junior guard Bridget Carleton was named to the Cheryl Miller Award Preseason watch list on Wednesday.

The award recognizes the best small forward in women’s college basketball each season and honors Cheryl Miller, the sister of NBA great Reggie Miller. Miller is widely regarded as one of the greatest female basketball players of all time, and she scored 3,018 points in four years at USC, 10th most in NCAA history.

The Chatham, Ontario, Canada native is coming off the best season of her career, as she averaged 15 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for the Cyclones in 2016-17 and shooting 93.9 percent from the free throw line. She was named unanimously to the All-Big 12 First Team after the season.

Carleton is one of 20 players on the watch list, and one of four members from the Big 12 conference. Redshirt senior guard Maddie Manning of Oklahoma, senior guard Ariel Atkins of Texas, and senior forward Teana Muldrow of West Virginia round out the Big 12 contingent. 

Carleton was pleased with her inclusion.

“To be included in that conversation is a huge honor,” Carleton said. “[Miller] was a great player, so to be put in the same category as her, it’s really exciting.”

The list will be cut down to five finalists in March and announced during the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four in Columbus, Ohio on March 30, 2018.

Carleton and the Cyclones take on South Dakota in their season opener Friday, November 10, at noon in Hilton Coliseum.