Another fourth-quarter meltdown haunted the Iowa women’s basketball team as they dropped a game to Indiana, 79-74.

The Hoosiers remaine unbeaten in Bloomington Assembly Hall, where they are 10-0 this season.

Iowa started off on a good run in the first quarter. With the help of sophomore Whitney Jennings, Iowa went into the second quarter on a good note. Jennings scored 10 of Iowa’s 16 points in the first quarter.

The Hawkeyes’ best quarter, however, was the second. They kept Indiana from scoring for a solid three minutes and went on a 7-0 run. Iowa’s offense kept rolling, and the Hawks led by 15 points at halftime. Iowa outscored Indiana 22-8 in the second quarter and shot 58.8 percent from the field.

Iowa led by as much as 17 during the third quarter (3:38), but the Hoosiers still kept pushing. Indiana’s Amanda Cahill kept fighting to push her team, and the lead was down to 11 before the quarter came to a close. Cahill finished the contest shooting 10-of-14 from the field, scoring 24 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.

When the fourth quarter came around, Indiana had no problem shooting 3-pointers. Cahill shot one of the three shots from behind the arc to continue to knock down the lead. Indiana’s Karlee McBride also hit back-to-back 3s in the fourth quarter. The game was then tied at the 6:26 mark when the Hoosiers’ Jenn Anerson hit a lay-up in the paint.

Indiana scored 32 points in the fourth quarter to seal the deal, but Iowa playing lackluster defense in the second half doesn’t come as a surprise. The Hawkeyes have ran into many issues in the second half when they have a major lead.

Indiana shot 10-of-12 from the field in the fourth and was perfect 4-of-4 from the 3-point line. The Hawkeyes shot just 37.5 percent from the field.

“They got high percentage shots, and they got to the free-throw line,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said.

The loss against Indiana is comparable with Iowa’s loss against Michigan; the Wolverines scored 30 points in the fourth quarter to walk away with a win as well. Improving on second-half performances has been Iowa’s priority the past few weeks, but Indiana may have just stopped that.

Aside from lackluster defense and a poor performance in the fourth quarter, Iowa had many opportunities to score easy points from the free-throw line. The Hawks were 12-of-21 from the charity stripe. Iowa averages 14.6 of those free shots made per game.

Jennings recorded a career high with 22 points, and freshman Megan Gustafson recorded her third-consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“Whitney did a good job,” Bluder said. “She had a great game going, then we kind of went away from her and quit looking for her. I think that’s obviously too bad for us.”

Iowa is now 15-8, 5-6, in conference play; it will host Michigan State on Feb. 7.

“We need to shake this one off,” Bluder said.