Jen Carleton, the fifth head coach in the history of the women’s program, returns for her fifth season as the GBC head women's basketball coach.
In four seasons, Carleton has turned the Lightning women's basketball program into a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference powerhouse. After two losing seasons to start her career, she put GBC back on the map with a 17-12 (12-7 CACC) season in 2009-10 that saw the Lightning reach the conference semifinals. Then in 2010-11, she led GBC to its first-ever (men or women) CACC basketball championship and NCAA Division II Regional Tournament berth.
During what looked to be a rebuilding season in 2009-10, Carleton guided a team with no seniors to a season sweep of cross-town rival Wilmington University and the first-ever victory in program history over perennial CACC powerhouse, Philadelphia University. The Lightning would return to the Gallagher Center, the site of their historic first win over Philadelphia, just one week later to face the Rams once more in the CACC quarterfinals. In her CACC playoff head coaching debut, Carleton led her squad to another upset victory over Philadelphia, sending GBC to the semifinals where the Lightning would fall to eventual tournament champion, Nyack.
Carleton's up-and-coming 2009-10 squad featured one All-CACC Second Team selection as well as two All-CACC honorable mentions.
With nearly the entire resurgent 2009-10 team back on her roster, the 2010-11 season began with a ton of promise, and Carleton and the Lightning did not dissapoint. Though they started out 0-4, the Lightning went on to finish the regular season 15-6 overall and 13-6 in the conference, and for the second straight year, they earned a No. 3 seed in the CACC Tournament.
Along the way, Carleton had two players (Jacinda Jones and Janae Weldon) surpass the 1,000-point milestone in the same game, a home contest against Georgian Court. Later when the Lightning faced Georgian Court for the second time, Carleton earned a milestone of her own - her 50th career coaching win. But the most stunning event of the regular season came on January 13, 2011, when the Lightning came into the Campus Center and ended Holy Family University's 110-game regular season conference win-streak and 71-game home winning streak. The Lightning shocked the entire nation as they beat the No. 14 ranked team in the country, on the road, 64-51.
In the CACC Tournament, Carleton's Lightning stormed past three regionally-ranked teams to earn the school's first-ever conference championship and NCAA Regional Tournament berth. First, GBC took down the No. 2 seed and seventh-ranked team in the region, University of the Sciences, by a score of 57-54. Next up, was the No. 1 seed out of the North Division and 10th ranked team in the region, Bloomfield College. The Lightning disposed of the Deacons with a 62-57 upset to advance to the program's first-ever CACC Finals where they would take on the No. 1 ranked team in the region, and tournament host, Holy Family. Lightning struck a second time at the Campus Center, as Carleton's squad earned another double-figure win over HFU in the CACC Championship game, 66-54.
The Lightning were chosen as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA East Regional Tournament hosted by Bentley University. Amazingly, they were paired up yet again with Holy Family University for the fourth time of the season. This time HFU was victorious, 79-67.
Carleton came to GBC after serving as the assistant women's basketball coach at Holy Family University, where she helped the Tigers win the CACC regular season and tournament championship. Interestingly, Carleton was at Holy Family for the start of the 110-game conference regular season winning streak, and then was the opposing coach to end it. Before Holy Family, she was an assistant coach at Caldwell College for three years.
A graduate from Caldwell, Carleton was a member of the women’s basketball team for four years, including the 2003 CACC tournament championship team. Carleton ranks second all-time at Caldwell College for three-pointers made in a career.
