St. Laurence’s Kathleen Martin was pretty sick last week with the flu.

How sick? Try a 103-degree temperature that forced her to rest and recover. As a consequence, the senior guard missed two of her team’s games — both losses.

“I was terrified,” she said. “I was afraid to not go. But I was like, ‘I just can’t.’”

The 5-foot-6 Martin returned Wednesday night, and while feeling markedly better, she still sacrificed her body to get the Vikings back on the winning track.

Martin led the host Vikings with 16 points and also grabbed six rebounds in a 49-44 victory over Marist in Burbank. But what she did away from the ball was just as significant.

With 4:45 left in the third quarter, she hit a layup for the Vikings (10-4) but got caught in traffic and crashed to the floor with a thud, almost looking like she hit the back of her head.

She hit the floor hard again at the end of the quarter. And then with 23.5 seconds to go in the fourth, she grabbed an offensive rebound off a free throw miss and sprawled out.

When the game was over, she looked relieved to have even survived, but according to freshman forward Aaliyah Flores, that’s the way Martin plays when she gets a certain way.

“Her energy, when she gets angry, the whole team gets angry,” Flores said. “It’s up from there. She gets us hyped.”

Flores finished with 13 points and three rebounds, while senior guard Clare Allison added eight points. Allison agreed with Flores that opponents may not want to cross Martin.

“She was fired up,” Allison said. “As a guard, we all have to work together, so she kind of fueled all of us. We have to play at a certain speed to play together and win.”

Marist (4-9) kept the game close most of the second half thanks to the effort of freshman guard Grace Harmon, who finished with 17 points. Another freshman, guard Lily Porter, added eight points and five rebounds.

The RedHawks actually had a 38-34 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Martin and Flores put together a 6-0 run that changed things.

Martin’s objective is to play with purpose, something she hopes rubs off on her teammates. That’s the core of her leadership style.

“It’s kind of like, everything has to have a purpose,” Martin said. “When you let everyone know there is a purpose to something, they will do their best and always go at it.

“If you give everyone a reason, they’ll do it.”

Claire Austin, who is in her first year as St. Laurence’s coach, admitted she didn’t know much about Martin in June when she took the job.

But that changed quickly as the summer unfolded, and she realized one thing.

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“A lot of girls don’t like to go against ‘Kat’ and they like to talk to her,” Austin said. “I see that little chip that goes on her shoulder.

“The second you make her mad, I know what it’s going to be. She’s not going to let you score, and she’s going to do her best to make sure we win that game, so that’s when I found out what type of player she was.”

In fact, Austin has to advise Martin to calm down sometimes to avoid an injury.

But so far, so good, and with the season heading into the holiday break, Martin and her teammates — she and three other starters were out last week with illnesses — have a chance to heal up.

After 2024 unfolds, Martin will be thinking about life following graduation.

“School comes first for me,” she said of her college options. “If basketball falls into place, that’s the perfect storm.”

Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.