INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Helen Darling found her game at the right time for No. 5 Penn State, scoring a season-high 17 points and adding five assists to lead the Lady Lions over Ohio State 64-48 in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament Friday.

"It's funny, the first game Helen Darling ever played against Ohio State was a great, great game when she was a freshman, after that she was somewhat marginal," Penn State coach Rene Portland.

	Penn State's Helen Darling was the key to the Lions' success in their Big Ten tourney opener.

"It was nice for her to close out her career against Ohio State with the exact amount of points, she had 17 as a freshman."

The Lady Lions (25-3) took a 31-24 lead at halftime, then held Ohio State (13-15) without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the second half.

"I came out with a lot of confidence. I hit my first couple of shots and my confidence just stayed high the rest of the game," Darling said.

Ohio State played without LaToya Turner, the Big Ten freshman of the year, who sprained her left knee in Thursday's first-round win over Indiana. Without Turner, who averaged 11.3 points and 5.9 rebounds a game, the Buckeyes shot just 34 percent from the field and were just 24 percent (6-of-25) in the second half.

"She plays very well. I feel sorry that she was out," Penn State's Maren Walseth said of Turner. "It didn't really affect us. We stayed with our stuff on offense and defense."

Penn State had 10 steals, including four by Walseth, while scoring 27 points off 21 Ohio State turnovers. Walseth was the only other player in double figures for Penn State with 13 points.

Penn State will play fourth-seeded Illinois, a 72-67 winner over Michigan State, in one of Saturday's semifinal games in Conseco Fieldhouse.