A severe blow: The departure of two key players from the Iowa women’s basketball team could be the team’s demise.

LINCOLN, Neb. − There were plenty of questions and angst following Iowa women’s basketball’s fourth-quarter collapse and 82-79 loss at Nebraska on Sunday afternoon.

Has Caitlin Clark’s pursuit of the NCAA scoring record become a distraction? Should head coach Lisa Bluder be roasted for the Hawkeyes’ third blown double-digit second-half lead (two that resulted in losses) in the last three weeks?

Sixth-year senior Kate Martin cut through the blame game, though, by speaking the real issue.

“We got away from Iowa basketball in the fourth quarter,” Martin said after the Hawkeyes saw their 71-57 lead slip away. “I think we’ve been playing to not lose instead of playing to win. It’s really important down the stretch, playing to win. We can’t just take the ball out, get comfortable. I think we’ve been doing that in certain situations.”

Like squandering a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter at Ohio State on Jan. 21 and losing in overtime.

Like squandering all of an 18-point lead at Maryland on Feb. 3 before rallying and pulling away late.

And now this.

Martin said, yeah, sometimes a big lead makes a team take a foot off the gas.