1. "It seems" is an indication that I really don't know what happened, either.
2. Having that many of your starters with 4 fouls with significant time remaining in the 2nd half is highly unusual, IMO.
3. The PSU starters average 12.2 fouls per game, with Talia East being the only one who averages over 3 fouls per game (3.1). The others are around 2, except for Waldner who averages 2.9. With something like 6 mins left (I would have to go back and check) , these players had 19 fouls between them. Having a group total that far above their season average is much more unusual than just having one or two players pick up a lot of fouls on a particular evening.
It is certainly true that the PSU players had an 'inability to play without fouling' in the eyes of the referees....! But the stats make it seem (there's that word again) that the refs were calling a pretty tight game. Of courses, it could have been the players were extra aggressive and sloppy after getting killed so bad, frustration fouls, etc. Quite possible also. Being down 25 points will do that to some teams...or possibly the starters played extra heavy minutes, and were tired. So you're right in that it could have been a lot of things. But the numbers just jumped out at me.