Senior point guard Shalee Lehning recorded her third triple-double of the season and led the Wildcats past the Colorado Buffaloes 71-61, in their final regular season game.
Lehning leads the nation with three triple-doubles on the season after scoring 16 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out 12 assists at the Coors Event Center Saturday.
With the win, the Wildcats improved to 23-6 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12 Conference and are scheduled to go to Oklahoma City to participate in the Big 12 tournament beginning next week.
Marlies Gipson continued her hot streak, leading the game with 21 points. Gipson scored a career high 24 points during the Wildcats’ previous game at home in a 66-50 victory over Texas.
Leading the way for the Buffaloes was center Kara Richards, who scored 19 points. Richards was followed by forward Brittany Spears, who netted 18 points.
In the previous meeting between the Wildcats and Buffaloes, the Richards-Spears duo combined for 48 points. However, once again it was too little as K-State prevailed.
Saturday’s win was the first road win for the Wildcats after a streak of four consecutive road losses. The team’s last road win was against Kansas in Lawrence on Jan. 24.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead against the Buffaloes, holding a 10-point lead for much of the first half. K-State fared well from beyond the 3-point line, shooting 5-9, led by junior guard Kari Kincaid, who finished the game shooting 3-4 from long distance.
However, a late 19-5 run by the Buffaloes eventually tied the game at 37-37 heading into the halftime break.
Yet the Wildcats defense prevailed coming out of the half time break, holding the Buffaloes to 40 percent shooting during the second half while continuing to shoot well on their end of the court.
K-State is now fifth place in the Big 12 Conference, one game behind Iowa State. The Wildcats will enter the tournament riding a two-game winning streak.
The Big 12 tournament tips off Thursday with the Wildcats scheduled to face Colorado for the third time this season at 1:30 p.m. at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.