Entering her second year as a Bearcat, sophomore guard Carletta Bennett is looking to build on the impressive foundation she established in her rookie campaign.

Bennett hails from Brampton, Ontario, where she was a member of the 2024 Team Ontario U17 squad that won a national championship. During the recruiting process, she highlighted the influence of Binghamton head coach Mary Grimes on her decision.

“Honestly, it wasn’t really Binghamton,” Bennett said. “I was following [Grimes] from when she usually coached at Le Moyne, but honestly I didn’t like Le Moyne, the school, that much. So when she came over here, and I felt like the school was better, and it had better education options, and a way more competitive conference, I kind of knew it was the school for me.”

After spending her rookie season primarily at power forward, Bennett has transitioned into playing her natural position at guard this year. The change has allowed her to focus more on her perimeter play and take advantage of opportunities coming off ball screens.

“It’s been good honestly,” Bennett said. “I feel more like where I belong, you know I’m not guarding six-foot, six-one girls all the time, so I like it. You know, I like coming off of ball screens and getting into my pull-ups, and just being behind the two-point line.”

On Dec. 15, Bennett was named America East Rookie of the Week. Just over a month later, five games into conference play, she made her first start of the season and did not look back, starting every remaining game for the Bearcats.

“That definitely helped my confidence a lot,” Bennett said. “Honestly, I came into freshman year not really thinking I was going to play too much. I was just hoping for five to 10 minutes a game. But [Grimes] shut that down really quickly.”

By the end of the season, Bennett had been named to the America East All-Rookie Team after averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in 16 starts while helping Binghamton to a fourth-place regular-season finish and a 20-13 record. She credits the award as another significant boost to her confidence.

“That meant a lot to me, especially because I think I did start the season with not a lot of confidence,” she said. “So my work and performance being recognized like that meant a lot to me. It definitely helped my confidence.”

After being selected to finish first in the conference in the America East preseason poll, Bennett thinks the sky is the limit for this year’s Bearcats.

“I think this team obviously is capable of a championship,” she said. “I mean we have so much depth, like our bench is so long. We get along great off the court, everyone works hard and genuinely likes each other.”

Throughout her entire rookie campaign, the buzzer-beating victory in the America East semifinal over Bryant stood out to Bennett.

“My favorite memory from rookie year, I would say that Bryant game at home, the in-conference play,” Bennett said. “Or, that Albany kids game at home, I played good both those games, but when like all the athletes rushed onto the court and we were all on the floor, like that was just surreal. It felt like we won the championship, it was great.”