INDIANAPOLIS -- It took just three words for Michigan State's Kristin Haynie to explain what her team had more of than any other team in the Big Ten tournament.

"Fight, hustle and heart," said Haynie, the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, after her team had just won its first-ever Big Ten tournament title.

Cast into the tournament sharing the regular season title with No. 1 seed Ohio State, the Spartans won their three games in determined fashion.

Meshed with a roster full of good-but-not-great players, No. 2 seed Michigan State won the tournament by beating teams that were led by stars.

"Basketball is meant to be played that way," Michigan State coach Joanne McCallie said of her team's effort against Penn State. "If you have four or five people that can really bite you any night, you're really tough to defend."

What also stuck out even more than the fact that four Spartans averaged double figures was their ability to adapt. All three games were won in different ways, and all three came down to the wire.

Game one was the shocker of the bunch, maybe even the wake-up call that sparked the run. As the No. 7 seed, Illinois led by two with two minutes left in regulation.

It was then that senior guard Lindsay Bowen stripped Illinois guard Tiffanie Guthrie and scored to force overtime. From there, all MSU did was shutout the Fighting Illini 11-0 in overtime.

Then it was Penn State's turn to take a shot, and the Lady Lions decided to bring some serious offense.

No problem, thanks for coming.

Four Spartans -- Haynie, Bowen, Liz Shimek and Kelli Roehrig -- combined for 65 of the 83 points, leaving the Lady Lions wondering how 76 wasn't enough in a tournament game.

"It definitely helps them out because they have a lot of people scoring," Penn State senior guard Tanisha Wright said after the loss.

When the Spartans finally got to the main event last Monday, No. 4 seed Minnesota had knocked out Ohio State to set up a match-up between the conference's best remaining team and arguably the best remaining post player, Minnesota's Janel McCarville.

Instead of a shootout, Michigan State played in and won the lowest-scoring title game in the history of Big Ten tournament title games. The scoring was down, along with the 56 percent shooting percentage that Michigan State had against Penn State.

So with the offense down, the defense was up, starting with McCarville. Just a day after one of the tournament's best individual performances, in which she scored 21 points, amassed 15 rebounds and held Big Ten Player of the Year Jessica Davenport to just 12 points, "Lady Shaq" had nothing left in the final.

McCarville made 1-of-17 shots for two points, and her team did not fare much better, finishing with a 26.8 shooting percentage. Despite the shooting woes, the Golden Gophers led by two with 4:17 left in the game.

Like they had all tournament long, the Spartans dominated the final stretch, scoring the last eight points of the game and winning their 12th straight game, dating back to Jan. 23, at Penn State.

"We have a balanced team of attackers," McCallie said. " ... There was lots of times where that game could have gone either way. It was close. You just can't care. You just want to give your very best. I think I saw my team turn that corner. There was a part there were it was back and forth, and I just saw them turn that corner. They're a special group."

Special in a way the other 10 Big Ten teams could envy.