MANHATTAN — There’s a reason Kansas State senior point guard Shalee Lehning was named a Preseason Wooden Award and an All-America candidate entering the season.

Kansas got a healthy reminder why Saturday night.

Lehning can dish the rock. And her passes lead to more buckets than any player in the country. She averages 9.2 per game.

The senior’s eight first half assists helped the Wildcats take an 18 point lead at halftime. Of her eight first-half dimes, four set up nearly uncontested three pointers, two from K-State’s Shalin Spani and one apiece from Danielle Zanotti and Kari Kincaid. Three led to open layups after the two-minute mark.

“That’s why (Lehning) is good, and that’s why she averages nine assists. But we made it easy for her, we made it easy for shooters,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “It was a defensive breakdown on her penetration.”

Photo Gallery

Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Kansas State

A photo gallery of the women's basketball game against Kansas State Saturday night at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, KS.

Henrickson didn’t have a problem with the Jayhawk’s interior defenders clamping down on Lehning in the lane, but she didn’t understand why they did it when she wasn’t a threat to score.

“I don’t know why you suck up when her back’s to the basket,” Henrickson said.

Lehning, in her 108th consecutive start, finished with 10 assists to go with 14 points and six rebounds, a very typical boxscore-stuffing night from the senior from Sublette, Kan.

Henrickson assigned junior guard Sade Morris the task of guarding Lehning because of Morris’ length. Morris held her to just two points and two assists in the opening nine minutes. But the defensive rotation of senior Ivana Catic, junior Kelly Kohn and junior LaChelda Jacobs assigned the task for most of the latter parts of the first half could not keep the lightning-quick Lehning in check.

“She does a good job, but we made it pretty easy for her,” Henrickson said.

In the second half, the Jayhawks gave Lehning a little more room, trying to keep her from finding so many open shooters and backdoor cutters. It kept her assist total down, but Lehning, utilizing what Henrickson called an “up and under move”, scored 10 points and helped keep the K-State lead above 25 for most of the second half. Morris tried to adjust at halftime, but Lehning responded by scoring instead of feeding scorers.

“I just tried to use my length, and I tried to pressure her more, but I could have done a better job,” Morris said.

Lehning showed off the quickness that kept the Jayhawks guessing with just under six minutes to go in the second half. After a 50-foot sprint to pick up the ball a split second before it rolled over the endline, Lehning tossed the ball off Jacobs’ leg to retain the possession for Kansas State. Even with the game more than decided by that point, the season-high crowd of 7,128 erupted .

“We just never had an answer,” Henrickson said.