4th-quarter woes have bitten the Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — A troublesome trend has manifested itself through the last four games for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Suddenly, they can't finish.

"It's something we've discussed at length," guard Whitney Jennings said. "It comes down to mental toughness, having the tenacity to finish games."

Iowa (13-5 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) has dropped three of its last four games heading into Wednesday's battle with Penn State (6-11, 1-5), 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

There's no mystery why.

In the fourth quarter of the last four games, the Hawkeyes have been outscored, 99-54. Talk about 40 minutes of hell.

'It's just a mental switch we have to make,' said Ally Disterhoft, a junior co-captain. 'It's about not crumbling under pressure. It's been frustrating, but you can't overthink it.'

The pattern began, virtually out of nowhere, at Michigan on Jan. 7. Iowa was on the verge of a 3-0 Big Ten start, which would have been its first under Coach Lisa Bluder. Instead, the Hawkeyes squandered a 17-point third-quarter lead, were outscored 30-13 in the fourth and fell to the Wolverines, 82-75.

Against Maryland three days later, they were outscored 16-9 in the final 10 minutes of a 76-56 defeat. They held off Wisconsin, 57-54, at Madison last Wednesday despite a late Badgers run — 19-6 in the last period.

Then, Saturday at Michigan State, the problems began sooner. After an excellent first half in which they built a 13-point lead, the Hawkeyes surrendered 57 second-half points, including 34 in the fourth quarter, and lost 80-73.

To get out of this, the Hawkeyes have to take better care of the ball. They rank at the bottom of the Big Ten in turnovers (16.5 per game), turnovers forced (14.1 per game) and turnover margin.

The Hawkeyes have had more turnovers than each of their last seven opponents.

'I think we're scared of turning the ball over. We've just got to step up and play,' Bluder said. 'And if we turn it over, we've got to dig in our heels and play defense.'

Penn State has traditionally been one of the Big Ten's shiniest jewels, but has fallen on hard times the past two seasons. The Lady Lions were 24-8 and reached the Sweet 16 in 2014, then tumbled to 6-24 last season and haven't risen yet. They are 0-6 on the road this season and have dropped their last five games overall.

'Don't be deceived by their record,' Bluder said. 'They're shooting the ball better than they did last year. They can turn it up at any time.'

Teniya Page leads the Lady Lions at 15.6 points per game. Disterhoft has climbed into the all-time top 20 for career scoring at Iowa with 1,275 points and paces the Hawkeyes at 16.6 ppg this season.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com