The sign read that she was "Made of Steel." At many points Sunday afternoon, Penn State point guard Brianne O'Rourke had many believing it was true.

Spanning several members of the front row of the student section, the canvas made its debut last Thursday against Northwestern. Against No. 6 Ohio State on Sunday, it made its way over the entrance to the Penn State tunnel, and it seemed to become a part of her and a part of the program.

Big and colorful, it was the ideal mechanism for promoting the Pittsburgh native as the conference's freshman of the year. Penn State basketball coach Rene Portland has said all season that the freshman fearlessly approached the task of directing a team around the court. It has not been an easy task for an 18-year-old who is by far the smallest member of the Lady Lions, listed at 5-foot-6.

However, the award for the league's top freshman will by won or lost by a numbers game, and, as a scorer, O'Rourke had been noticeably deficient. She needed a big performance in a big game, a sign that she deserved the honor for something other than delivering timely passes to captains Amanda Brown and Kamela Gissendanner.

Something happened against the Buckeyes. All of a sudden, the Big Ten's leader in assists had no problem spotting up for the shot, a rarity for a player that barely surpassed the 30-percent plateau from the field for the season.

Unnerved by a 19-percent shooting percentage from behind the arc this season, O'Rourke let three fly from long range and converted on them all, taking advantage of a zone defense that had the confidence that she would throw up unanswered prayers.

Then, she became aggressive. She generated a steal by jumping the route of an ill-advised pass. Taking it the rest of the way, she could've passed to a teammate streaking down the court alongside of her. Instead, she pulled up with a defender in her face and confidently knocked it down.

Much to the dismay of Ohio State, the guard who couldn't find the bottom of the net much of the season was leading all scorers much of the first half.

"When we were in the zone, she got three great looks at the basket early," Ohio State basketball coach Jim Foster said. "That gave her a tremendous amount of confidence."

The intermission couldn't cool her down. The Lady Lions' lead had been chewed down to 35-27 at the break, but coming out of half, O'Rourke delivered a pill that was tough to swallow -- another trifecta. She was 4-of-4.

Penn State had not trailed in the game for the first 39 minutes, 57.3 seconds. By the time O'Rourke crossed midcourt and hurled a desperation three with her team down by two, she already had a career-high 17 points and the best shooting night of her college career. As the ball bounced harmlessly off the glass, that fact didn't change.

Call it a homecourt advantage, but the attempt was never recorded, giving her a 4-of-6 from long distance on the night -- her final attempt coming with 3:11 to go, an air ball just a tad short of changing the dynamic of the rest of the game.

Those final minutes reminded spectators that she is not in fact steel. She's just a girl from Pittsburgh that occasionally throws up a brick or turns the ball over.

On an afternoon where Ohio State junior forward Jessica Davenport held Brown and Gissendanner below their season averages, O'Rourke stepped up in their absence to lead the Lady Lions with 17 points. For once, she knew was it was like to be the player with the hot hand, and with it came revelations.

"It makes me play smarter and recognize my shots and when I can take them," O'Rourke said. "Just to work with my teammates, it helped me keep my composure. When you start out hittin', it helps you throughout the game."

Even before Sunday's output, coaches from around the Big Ten saw potential in O'Rourke to capture the award, despite one of her least impressive games of the season last Thursday: four points on 2-of-6 shooting with one assist and three turnovers in 28 minutes.

"Brianne O'Rourke is a fantastic player. To come in as a freshman and run a program at this level is a tough task and I think she's done a phenomenal job for Penn State," Northwestern coach Beth Combs said. "She's going to wind up being a great player when it's all said and done. She's definitely made her mark with some of the great point guards that have come out of Penn State."

Sunday's game upped her 3-point percentage to .234, or just under 1-of-4. She has made just 14 on the season, so Sunday accounted for over 20 percent of her output. By comparison, the last great Penn State point guard, Jess Strom who just graduated last May, was at .396, or nearly 2-of-5, with 42 converted long balls her freshman season.

O'Rourke is not made of steel, as some would have you believe. Her numbers can attest to that.

But after a devastating Sunday loss encapsulating a disappointing season, she sat more composed fielding questions on what went wrong than she had much of the year. Given the extra emotion at the final regular season game, she displayed a true sign of maturity, showcasing the tenacity Portland has bragged about much of the season.

"It sure does make it a lot harder 'cause we believed as a team we could win the game," she said. "But I think it just gives us more motivation to go out and prove ourselves in the [Big Ten] Tournament and just carry over this game."