Tag: Kate Martin

Iowa Women’s Basketball 2023-24 Snapshot Profile: Kate Martin

Back for one final ride, graduate student Kate Martin is one of the foundational pieces of what Iowa hopes is a championship run.

It says a lot about the culture that coach Lisa Bluder has built here at Iowa that so many of her players are willing to come back and play for one final season. Seriously folks, as a semi-recent college grad, school stinks.

It’s tough for a college athlete to balance all of your school responsibilities alongside the rigorous schedule of a collegiate athlete.

Kate Martin did not have to come back for a sixth season in Iowa City. She was a three-year starter, accomplishing more than so much of the population in America. Yet, we are all glad that she’s back to help Iowa make another run at the championship.

For Martin, the stats don’t truly tell the entire story. She plays one of the most vital roles for the team, really being tasked with doing a bit of everything for the Hawkeyes. She’s known as the glue of the squad for a reason. She can shoot, rebound when needed, and keep the ball moving. She’s a player every coach loves to have. For one last time as a Hawkeye, here’s a look at Kate Martin.

‘This is it’: Kate Martin focused on making curtain call her finest Iowa season to date

Knowing this season is her last, Hawkeyes guard Kate Martin is focused on making sure this is her best Iowa season ever.

Kate Martin has been a part of some incredible memories with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The 6-foot guard was one of the driving forces behind the black and gold reaching the NCAA Tournament’s national championship game last season. In 2022-23, Martin averaged a career-high 7.7 points per game and shot a career-best 41.4% from behind the 3-point line.

The Edwardsville, Ill., product has started each of Iowa’s 100 games over the past three seasons and has played in 124 over the course of her Hawkeye career. Because of the COVID-19 eligibility exemption, Martin opted to take advantage of a final sixth season in the black and gold.

Alongside Caitlin Clark and Gabbie Marshall, Iowa has the makings of a backcourt nucleus that’s combined to start 299 games over the course of their Hawkeye careers.

Can this trio take Iowa all the way to the mountaintop of a championship in the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season? Martin certainly hopes so and is optimistic the best is still yet to come.

As Martin met with members of the media to preview the Hawkeyes’ upcoming overseas trip, the reality that this season is the finish line is sinking in. It means she’s entering every day with an appreciative, hard-working mindset.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a motivation. I don’t have any more eligibility, guys. Like, this is it. So, I’m trying to make it the best season ever. Every practice, this is my last fifth week of summer Thursday practice. You know, every day coming in with that mentality, so you might as well go as hard as you can,” Martin said with Hawkeye Report and a series of Iowa reporters last week.

Here’s Martin’s full meeting with the media. Plus, everything else she had to say below about practices so far and Iowa’s upcoming trip to Croatia and Italy.

LSU’s Jasmine Carson was on fire in the NCAA title game with 21 points and a perfect first half

Jasmine Carson went OFF for LSU during the first half of the 2023 women’s NCAA title game.

During Sunday’s 2023 women’s NCAA tournament championship, it wasn’t Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark that was grabbing the most attention.

LSU senior guard Jasmine Carson caught fire for the Tigers coming off the bench during the title game’s first half, scoring 21 points and not missing a single shot.

She was indeed perfect from the arc and in the paint, leading LSU to a surprising 59-42 lead at halftime over Iowa.

Carson transferred to LSU from West Virginia this season and has averaged 8.4 points a game this season for the Tigers.

She also banked an incredible 3-pointer at the buzzer before the half ended to give LSU that commanding margin.

Per our Mitchell Northam, Carson’s stellar first half is building to perhaps the best game of her collegiate career.

Iowa senior Kate Martin also didn’t miss a shot during the game’s first half, scoring seven points for the Hawkeyes.

Although, all eyes were on Carson for her fantastic first half for LSU.

They’re back! Iowa’s Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall announce they are returning next season

The Iowa Hawkeyes women just secured their backcourt for next season with Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall announcing they are returning.

The backcourt for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is already one of the best, if not far and away the best, in the nation this season.

Everyone knows Caitlin Clark and the household name she has become, but without her two backcourt teammates, who knows what things would look like.

Those two teammates are Iowa’s Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. They have each announced that they will be returning to the Hawkeyes next season to continue what they have built.

Kate Martin has appeared in 113 games as a member of the Hawkeyes. She is averaging seven points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season, but her contributions may come more so in her ability to calm things down, be the glue within the offense, and make the smart play. She excels with her instincts and intelligence. Next year will be Martin’s sixth collegiate season.

Another backcourt member returning is Gabbie Marshall. She has 117 games under her belt and is a defensive menace for the Hawkeyes. With 170 steals, she provides a defensive stopper to go with the high-powered offense. Next year will be Marshall’s fifth season with the Iowa program.

The two returners know that they are part of something special at Iowa and want to continue on their path of wins, excitement, and laying another brick to the foundation they have been so key in building.

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Updating a flurry of recent Iowa women’s basketball summer 2022 offers

Iowa women’s basketball added Central Michigan transfer Molly Davis last month. Now, they’re busy on the recruiting trail with six offers.

It’s a great time to be a fan of Iowa women’s basketball. The Hawkeyes enter the 2022-23 women’s college basketball season after a 24-8 season that included a share of the Big Ten regular season championship and the Big Ten Tournament title.

Of course, Iowa returns one of the frontrunners for national player of the year honors in point guard Caitlin Clark. The 6-foot junior from West Des Moines just capped a season where she led Division I in both points and assists per game with averages of 27 points and eight assists per contest.

In the process, Clark became the first women’s college basketball player to accomplish that feat. She also averaged eight rebounds per contest.

Last season, she was named Big Ten Player of the Year, earned unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honors and also earned Big Ten Tournament MVP and was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.

Clark was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year and was the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year Award recipient, becoming the first student-athlete to win the Dawn Staley Award in consecutive seasons. She was also a finalist for the Naismith Award, the WBCA Wade Trophy, the John R. Wooden Award and the Honda Sport Award.

Joining Clark is a nucleus of talented players that will have the Hawkeyes back in the mix for both of the Big Ten championships next season as well as one of the contenders for the national championships once the 2023 NCAA Tournament rolls around.

Forward Monika Czinano is back after registering averages of 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Guards McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall all return as well. That trio averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds, 7.2 points and 6.8 points, respectively. Warnock and Marshall connected on 40.4% and 39.3% of their 3-point tries last season.

With all of that excitement in tow for the 2022-23 season, there’s really no better time than the present to parlay it into recruiting successes. Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and her staff have stayed busy this offseason as they look to bolster this current roster and ensure exciting basketball stays in Iowa City for years to come.

Let’s take a look at an addition from last month to next season’s roster and break down six recent offers the Hawkeye staff has doled out.

March Sadness: Iowa women’s NCAA Tournament run ends versus No. 10 seed Creighton

A fantastic season came to a close as No. 10 seed Creighton shocked second-seeded Iowa, 64-62, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Not with that type of crowd inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena and not with this talented Iowa team. Tenth-seeded Creighton (22-9) made sure that it did, though.

In front of a raucous Hawkeye crowd, Creighton never blinked. It only added to the sting that the game-winning, 3-point shot was delivered by Iowa transfer and now Creighton sophomore guard Lauren Jensen with 15 seconds remaining. Playing against her former team, Jensen netted 8-of-15 field goal attempts and finished with a team-high 19 points to lead the Bluejays.

“Honestly, I was just super excited. I honestly didn’t know if it was going to go in. It kind of rattled off the back rim there. It wasn’t super clean, but I’m just glad it fell,” Jensen said.

Jensen leaned on her familiarity with Iowa to overcome what was a third-consecutive sell out crowd for the Hawkeyes.

“Obviously I’m pretty familiar with the arena because I played here all of last year, but I felt like that definitely helped. But on the flip side, there’s also some nerves with that because I’m wearing a different color this year, but I feel like it did help,” Jensen said.

Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder tipped the cap to her former player’s performance and thanked Hawkeye fans for the incredible environment they created.

“Obviously, just want to congratulate Creighton. A very well-played game, executed really well, defended really well. That’s a hard matchup for us. Five guards is a hard matchup. We knew that. But they did a great job, and Lauren Jensen was here last year, obviously that’s an incredible storyline. She goes over there and she comes back and beats us on our home court, and I want to congratulate her because she’s a great kid. She is a really, really good kid. I’m happy for her. I wish it wasn’t in this situation, but I am happy for her that she’s found a really good home and is really having a lot of success.

“Our crowd today was amazing again. I think we broke the NCAA record for first and second rounds of attendance, and I apologize to our fans that they couldn’t celebrate a victory with us today. They have been amazing all year, but boy, these last three games they’ve been incredible. So I want to thank them,” Bluder said.

Creighton won the rebounding battle over Iowa (24-8) in convincing fashion. The Bluejays out rebounded the Hawkeyes, 52-37. After Creighton jumped out in front 23-17 at the end of the first quarter, it felt like Iowa was battling uphill the rest of the afternoon.

In the second quarter, Iowa star sophomore guard and Big Ten Player of the Year Caitlin Clark knocked down her second 3-pointer of the day to bring the Hawkeyes back within 28-23. Creighton responded with a 10-3 run to grab the Bluejays’ biggest lead of 12 points at 38-26. During that 10-3 run by Creighton, Clark connected on what would be her final made 3-pointer of the season at the 3:54 mark of the second quarter.

Iowa closed the first half on a 6-0 run of their own to close the deficit to 38-32 at halftime. Early in the fourth quarter, it looked as if Iowa might finally be poised to take command and pull away from Creighton. Iowa junior guard Gabbie Marshall drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put Iowa in front 56-54 with 6:53 remaining. That was the Hawkeyes’ first lead in the contest since Clark’s jumper fell to put Iowa in front 15-14 with 5:11 left in the first quarter.

In the final 2:48, though, it was Jensen that hit a jumper to pull Creighton back within two, drove inside for a game-tying layup and then, of course, hit the game-winning 3-pointer.

Iowa senior forward Monika Czinano was fantastic all afternoon long and finished with 27 points on 12-for-20 field goal shooting. In fact, she was a perfect 6-for-6 on her first six attempts from the field. With that in mind, it made sense that the play on Iowa’s final possession was set up for Czinano. She got a post-up touch inside off the inbounds pass, turned and left what would have been the game-tying shot for Iowa short. The Hawkeyes had a pair of put-back opportunities off Czinano’s miss, but those didn’t find the mark either.

“Yeah, I think I had a hook shot. I’ve shot a million hook shots in my life and that one happened to not go in. I think we’ve run that play a lot. We needed to run that play, and it was just unfortunate that it didn’t go in,” Czinano said.

It’s a disappointing end to a season that saw Iowa share the Big Ten regular season crown, win a Big Ten Tournament championship, earn a No. 2 seed in the Greensboro region, but fail to reach the tournament’s second weekend. Clark, a national player of the year candidate, wasn’t going to focus on all of the negatives.

“I thought we battled and battled and battled. Obviously didn’t perform the way we needed to to win in the fashion that we wanted, and I think we still had a lot of opportunities to win the game. But overall they executed down the stretch and we didn’t, and there’s a lot of little things that you can go back and pick out from a one-possession game. And I think it’s overall just going to be a lot of fuel to the fire next year. I think that’s really all you can use it as. Obviously we’re frustrated, we’re disappointed, we’re sad, but we have our core coming back, and I think that’s something bright to look forward to, as well,” Clark said.

Iowa does bring plenty of firepower back and it’s headlined by Clark. While the season ends in frustrating fashion, Iowa can take solace in the type of team it will field in the 2022-23 season.

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Iowa vs. Creighton: game details, how to watch

Iowa plays Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Here’s details and how to watch the second round matchup.

Iowa put together a historic performance in its first round NCAA Tournament  tilt against Illinois State. The Hawkeyes scored the most points in program history in a tournament game, winning 98-58.

Sophomore guard Caitlin Clark delivered another big performance, scoring 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting, dished out 10 assists and pulled down six rebounds. Senior forward Monika Czinano pitched in 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior guard Gabbie Marshall and senior guard Tomi Taiwo each scored 13 points.

Now, the Hawkeyes play host to No. 10 seed Creighton, who took care of its own business in Iowa City versus Colorado, 84-74.

“Creighton is a really good 3-point shooting team. They play a lot of 5-out, and they’re going to shoot the ball a lot. And they push the ball well in transition. I think they’re similar to us in wanting to shoot the ball. But they don’t play as fast-paced as we do. But there might be some matchup issues inside. But they’re a pretty good team. And there’s not much difference from the scrimmage; but, yeah, we’re just getting prepared for that, and we’ll be ready to guard the 3-point line,” Iowa redshirt junior guard Kate Martin said of the Hawkeyes’ next opponent.