In the final seconds of the Iowa women’s basketball team’s game against Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Hawkeye junior guard Kate Martin was shooting free throws.

Down two points with five seconds left, Martin intentionally missed her second attempt from the charity stripe, and junior forward McKenna Warnock jumped to grab a rebound.

The ball went in and out of Warnock’s hands, and she slammed into the hardwood. 

Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon grabbed the ball, and time expired — but the game wasn’t over.

While Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder yelled at referees from her sideline and athletic trainers checked on Warnock, the officials conducted a review from the scorers table — checking how much time was on the clock when Martin was assessed her fifth foul of the contest.

The officials put .4 seconds back on the clock, and the teams retreated to the opposite end of the court where Sheldon drained two free throws to end the game. No. 23 Ohio State took down No. 21 Iowa, 92-88.

“I thought [Warnock] got taken to the ground,” Bluder said postgame about the final play. “I thought she completely got mugged. She should have been shooting two free throws. She shouldn’t, couldn’t have done it though, because she got slammed to the ground so hard. So, somebody else would have had to shoot the free throws. But I think we could have made them. We’ll never know.”

Ohio State played a physical style of defense on Monday night, putting a full court press on Iowa from the opening minutes. 

The Buckeyes had 20 fouls on Monday night, but Bluder thought there should’ve been more.

“Ohio State’s a great team,” Bluder said. “They’re very physical, and I don’t know, you quit calling fouls after a while. It gets frustrating, because the screens that we saw tonight … I don’t know if I’ll be able to field a team after this game, it is that bad. That many kids were taking to the ground, slammed on screens. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Martin hit the floor at the beginning of the second half and took a while to peel herself off the hardwood. After she got up, she had a slight limp that seemed to indicate a right leg injury. She played for two more minutes until Iowa called a timeout, and junior guard Tomi Taiwo checked in.

Athletic trainers rolled out Martin’s right thigh during the timeout, and she checked back in the game two minutes later.

Junior guard Gabbie Marshall also had to sub out with an injury with just over a minute left in the contest.

“I thought it was pretty physical,” sophomore point guard Caitlin Clark said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Gabbie, Kate, [sophomore guard Kylie Feuerbach,] Tomi … They’re what make us go and I feel bad for them. They got hammered all night long. I mean, I just felt bad for them. They were in pain.”

Iowa only had nine available players for its game against Ohio State, as freshman forward AJ Ediger suffered a high ankle sprain in the Hawkeyes’ shootaround pregame. 

Sophomores Shateah Wetering and Sharon Goodman are out for the season with ACL tears, and senior forward Logan Cook suffered a lower leg injury in early January.

“We only have so many bodies left,” Bluder said. “I don’t know Gabbie’s status and McKenna’s status after this game.”

Iowa has three days to recover before it plays Wisconsin in Madison on Thursday. The Hawkeyes and Badgers will tip off at 6:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center.