INDIANAPOLIS -- Senior guard Tanisha Wright walked past the scorer's table and half-heartedly high-fived her teammates, as her last chance at a Big Ten tournament championship was all but over.

Wright, the three-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, had just fouled out with one minute remaining in a game in which offense ruled the court. No. 2-seeded Michigan State (27-3) won the highest scoring non-overtime tournament game since 2001, 83-76, in the semifinal matchup on March 6 against third-seeded Penn State (19-10) at Conseco Fieldhouse, on its way to a tournament championship.

"To give up that many points is a disappointment," said Penn State coach Rene Portland, whose team reached 10 losses for the first time since 2001. "To put them on the foul line that many times. We came out and did a nice job offensively. We certainly did not do a good job defensively."

The game started fast and did not slow down until the final minute, when the Spartans sealed it from the foul line. Jenny Brenden made a 3-pointer to start things off, which Michigan State's Kristin Haynie matched with a 3, which was followed by an Amanda Brown layup at the opposite end of the floor.

Penn State made its first three shots, and Brenden, who led all scorers with a career-high 24 points, made her first four, and 9-of-13 for the game.

Both teams shot more than 50 percent in the first half -- 64 percent by Penn State, 57.1 percent by the Spartans -- but it was Lindsay Bowen's 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave Michigan State a 42-40 halftime lead.

Wright scored six points on just four shots in the first half and finished with 12 points, six assists and four rebounds.

"Just being in and out, in the second half it was tough to get a rhythm," Wright said. "It wasn't our offense that killed us. We score 76 points and that's pretty good for us. It was the 83 points that we gave up that killed us."

Coming into the game Penn State had won the seven previous duels with Michigan State, including a semifinal matchup in last year's Big Ten tournament.

"We haven't had much success against them these past couple years," said Haynie, who was 7-of-7 from the field with 18 points and was later named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "We take every game the same; it doesn't matter who we play. Our defense was obviously a little shaky, but like coach said, our offense was in attack mode."

The Spartans offense did not slow down in the second half, but Penn State had to deal with some added pressure. Senior point guard Jess Strom rolled her ankle with five minutes left in the first half and stayed in the locker room until the second half started.

Wright, who picked up two fouls while Strom was out, found herself in serious foul trouble after picking up her third just 19 seconds into the second half. Strom, who limped through halftime warmups, forgot all about her ankle early by scoring Penn State's first eight points, and her sharp drive to the basket put her team up 48-47 with 16:05 remaining.

"I think I would have let my team down if I said I was sitting out the second half," said Strom, who scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half.

The one-point lead did not last through the next possession after Spartans' center Kelli Roehrig got her own rebound and scored two of her 19 points, to spark a 10-2 Michigan State run. In that stretch Wright picked up her fourth foul and was forced to the bench for over six minutes.

Wright's teammates kept it close, with each team scoring 15 points during the stretch. The Lady Lions cut the defecit to two with a Brenden 3-pointer, one of a career-high six threes that gave Michigan State's zone defense problems all game.

"Coming out against that zone playing against them, whether I'm playing the four or the three, it's always the outside shots that are open," Brenden said. "When I hit my first shot that really helped me, just to know I was gonna keep shooting. They were just falling."

"Jennifer Brenden proved why she's a senior and boy, was she a headache," Michigan State coach Joanne McCallie said.

The headache for the Lady Lions was foul trouble. Brenden fouled out after the game was out of reach, and Brown, who scored 13 points and had six rebounds, had four of the Lady Lions' 23 personal fouls, the second highest total this season.

Michigan State got to the free throw line 25 times, made 21, while Penn State made only 6-of-9.

"If you look at the turnovers and the rebounds everything is straight across the line," Portland said. "Both teams shot 53 percent [Michigan State shot 56 percent]. They got to the foul line a whole lot."

Penn State attempted a season-high 26 3-pointers, just one shy of a Big Ten-tournament record. The Lady Lions' shooting percentage was the highest against the Spartans all season and only twice all season did an opponent score more than 76 points against them.

The Lady Lions' aggressive play, which McCallie deemed earlier in the week as the reason that makes them so good, ended up hurting Penn State as the Michigan State offense continually found someone open, and got to the foul line.

"We did play a pretty aggressive game," Brown said. "It kind of hurt us on that end because a lot of us got fouls and that obviously hurts you. When we did trap they would get an easy bucket and that was just more frustrating than anything."

Penn State is now 18-9 all-time in the Big Ten tournament and will have to wait until next year to try to win its first title since 1996.