INDIANAPOLIS — Iowa women’s basketball junior guard Kate Martin put her body on the line on Friday night.

Martin was undercut on a rebound in the fourth quarter of the Hawkeyes’ 72-59 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal victory against Northwestern, and fell to the ground hard.

Athletic trainer Jennie Sertterh and head coach Lisa Bluder checked on the fallen Hawkeye as she laid on the ground. After a few minutes, Martin walked off the floor under her own power.

“It was a little scary, because I was expecting my feet to, like, be there,” Martin said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Iowan postgame. “And when they weren’t, and I just fell on my back, it was a little scary, but I’m okay. I didn’t really hit my head, that I know of. So, I’m fine.”

After a brief reprieve on the bench, Martin checked back into the game less than two minutes later.

Throughout the 2021-22 season, Martin has taken the brunt of hard hits coming the Hawkeyes’ way. She broke her nose in early 2021, having to wear a facemask for almost a month of the 2020-21 regular season.

But Martin, an aggressive player, doesn’t mind taking the hits.

“That’s something I pride myself on, being aggressive,” Martin said. “And working really hard. And since I do that, I tend to take a little more hits. But I’ll do whatever I got to do to get the win so I don’t mind it.

Martin didn’t score in the first half of the Hawkeyes’ game against the Wildcats, taking just two shots from the floor in 15 minutes.

She finished the game, however, with a season-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line.  She also grabbed five rebounds and dished out a season-high six assists.

Martin was the Hawkeyes’ difference-maker on Friday night, Bluder said, but her impact goes beyond the box score.

“It was more than that,” Bluder said postgame. “It was her level headedness, her defense. She ran our offense and what we were trying to accomplish. She passed the ball well. She just, Kate’s always been the glue — and people overlook Kate. She holds this team together. She’s our captain, she’s our leader, she’s somebody we look to.”

Martin has been a captain of the Hawkeye women’s basketball team for two seasons. She was one of the youngest captains in the Bluder era as a redshirt sophomore in 2020-21.

Now, she shares the captaincy with senior center Monika Czinano and junior forward McKenna Warnock.

As a fourth-year member of the Hawkeyes, Martin is frequently referred to as the ‘glue’ of the Iowa women’s basketball team by her teammates.

“I think that’s lovely,” Martin said of being the ‘glue.’ “I take a lot of pride in that, and it’s really nice to be recognized as that. I think I’d take being the glue of the team over anything any day. I mean, I love my teammates so much and I think they all know that.”

Martin and the Hawkeyes advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with its victory over the Wildcats on Friday night. 

Second-seeded Iowa will take on No. 6 seed Nebraska on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game will be aired on Big Ten Network.