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With a loose, family-oriented environment as the backdrop, the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament opened Wednesday with 12th-seeded Indiana topping 13th-seeded Penn State 68-63 at the Sears Centre Arena.

No. 14 seed Purdue edged 11th-seeded Wisconsin 58-56 in the second game.

It’s the second time in three years the tournament has come to Hoffman Estates, and fans scarcely occupied the baseline rows for the opening game. A divider blocked off the southern end of the seats.

Many of those attending were families with young kids. Two large signs offered support for Indiana guard Tyra Buss, a 5-foot-7 freshman, who had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Amanda Cahill led the Hoosiers with 20 points and hit all three of her 3-point attempts as Indiana shot better than 43 percent from behind the arc. After Penn State cut a six-point deficit to two with less than two minutes to play, the Hoosiers hit free throws down the stretch to ice the win.

“When Penn State started to make runs at us, we responded,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said.

No official attendance was reported. The Big Ten set a record for total attendance for women’s basketball this season with more than 869,000 — in part because the conference expanded to 14 teams. The tournament will return to Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse in 2016 and remain there through 2022.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Buss said. “The IU fans were great, and it means a lot for them to make it to Chicago to see us play.”

No. 10 seed Illinois opens play at 6 p.m. Thursday against seventh-seeded Nebraska while fourth-seeded Northwestern plays at 2 p.m. Friday against Thursday’s Rutgers-Indiana winner.

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