Whenever ISU guard Jadda Buckley looked over at ISU coach Bill Fennelly in Iowa State’s 70-41 victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday, Fennelly kept telling her one thing.

“Throw the ball to Bridget [Carleton].”

It was that kind of night for Carleton, as she put up 22 points in 28 minutes on 8-of-15 shooting, including 6-for-10 from 3-point range.

Carleton found her stride late in the first quarter, knocking down two 3-balls in the final 2:17. But that was nothing compared to what she did in the second.

Carleton hit four 3-pointers in a matter of four minutes, including a run of back-to-back-to-back 3’s, and finished the quarter 4-for-5 from 3-point territory. Carleton scored 14 of the Cyclones’ 20 points in the second period.

“[I’m hoping that] she makes seven, eight and nine,” Fennelly said. “Sometimes you can overthink it. We ran very few plays. We just said, ‘Get it, go with it and kick it.’”

Even with a burning hot hand, Carleton wasn’t being guarded very closely. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-6, 0-0 SWAC) couldn’t keep up with Iowa State (6-3, 0-0 Big 12) in transition. But the lack of defense on Carleton in the second quarter surprised her a bit.

“I was kind of surprised. I hit two or three and then I was wide open again,” Carleton said. “So I just shot it.”

Carleton has been out of the lineup for the past two weeks after taking a shot to the face against Duke on Nov. 27, leaving her with a mild concussion, dental damage and eight stitches. That time out has taken a chunk out of her conditioning.

In the second half, Carleton only went 1-of-6 from the field and logged 12 minutes before sitting out for the for rest of the game.

“She’s still getting her wind back,” Fennelly said. “I think in the second half she was a little tired. Every shot that she missed was short. So we wanted to get her wind back so we gave her extra minutes to try and make her push through. This week will be good for her conditioning.”

Although she hasn’t started in the past two games, Carleton has made a large impact off the bench. In Iowa State’s win against Iowa on Friday night, Carleton came off the bench to score 11 points and block four shots in 29 minutes.

That performance led Fennelly to believe that she’d have a big game Sunday, but maybe not as big as this one.

“I don’t know if you can expect a kid to go 6-of-7 from the 3-point line,” Fennelly said. “But she’s getting it figured out.”

Carleton’s return to the court in December was questionable after her injury against Duke. She could barely eat in the days after the incident and didn’t travel with Iowa State’s first game away from Cancun against Northern Iowa on Dec. 2.

She has gone through a few procedures to fix her dental damage and will have a root canal Monday.

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Carleton said. “My head feels a lot better, and I’m feeling 100 percent, actually. My dental work needs some work, but that’s for later.”

Carleton was just part of the true freshman trio that scored 40 of Iowa State’s 70 points Sunday night. It’s a good sign for the young players, who were expected to carry a heavy load for the team this season, but it’s a bad one for the team overall.

“The problem is that Bridget is 6-for-10 [from 3-point range], and the rest of our team is 1-for-17,” Fennelly said. “We’ve got to figure that out. We have not shot the ball the way that we need to shoot it. We’re not shooting free throws the way we need to.”

As for Carleton, her streak of two straight games off the bench will come to a close next Sunday against Alcorn State.

“Bridget will start the next game, absolutely,” Fennelly said. “I think that’s pretty easy.”