Taiyanna Jackson had 17 points and Chatzileonti finished with 16 for the Jayhawks (19-5, 10-4 Big 12), who won a seventh consecutive Big 12 game for the first time since the end of the 1996-97 season.

It also means there’s a strong chance they will be ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time since Jan. 14, 2013, when it is released Monday afternoon.

KU held a six-point lead with three and a half minutes remaining, but Texas Tech (10-15, 3-11 Big 12) rallied and led 68-67 with 34.3 seconds left when Gray made a layup, drew a foul and knocked down the free throw.

Holly Kersgieter, who finished with 10 points, drove on Gray and finished off the glass on the following possession to restore Kansas’ lead at 69-68. Texas Tech then held for the last shot and tried to go through Gray, but she was met at the low post by Chatzileonti, Jackson and Kersgieter, with Chatzileonti swatting Gray’s attempt away.

Kersgieter recovered the loose ball in the corner, was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining and made both free throws. Texas Tech, needing to go the length of the court on the final possession, was unable to get a shot off.

“Give Texas Tech credit because they played extremely hard, but we made scouting report errors, mental errors (in the first half),” coach Brandon Schneider told Jimmy Chavez on the Jayhawk Sports Network radio broadcast after the game. “We got just dominated and punked on the glass, and we just challenged each other: ‘At the end of the day, don’t let each other down. Play for each other.’

“There’s no greater attribute and indicator of success, I think, than toughness and grit, and we just responded and played lights-out.”

The Lady Raiders led 38-25 at halftime and were up by 13 points with 7:57 remaining in the third quarter before the Jayhawks began their rally. They embarked upon a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to cut their deficit to two at 42-40, then reclaimed the lead for the first time since the opening minutes when Aniya Thomas made a 3-pointer from the corner to put KU up 49-47 with 27.6 left in the third quarter.

Thomas, who scored the final seven points of the third quarter, finished with 14 points off the bench.

“It was about time,” Thomas told Chavez. “I mean, we needed the buckets. I think we were down and we needed the buckets and we had to score. I was ready, I was confident and I was ready to shoot that thing.”

The Jayhawks’ two leading scorers, Kersgieter and Zakiyah Franklin, did not have a point in the first half and. Franklin, who fell one point shy of a career high with 25 points Wednesday against West Virginia, was held to just nine points by Texas Tech on 3-for-16 shooting.

Gray, who entered averaging 20.8 points per game, scored 32 points in the first meeting between the teams on Jan. 22, a 71-57 win by KU. She finished with 23 points on 8-for-25 shooting on Saturday, including 18 points in the first half and none in the third quarter.

Jackson had eight rebounds and three blocks, and Kersgieter had a team-high nine rebounds for the Jayhawks, who shot 41.4 percent (24-for-58) despite missing 11 consecutive shots in the first quarter and had a 39-38 edge in rebounding. Texas Tech, which led for nearly 28 minutes, shot 36.7 percent (22-for-60).

Kansas will return to action Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse, where it will face No. 6 Iowa State at 7 p.m. The Cyclones won the first meeting 77-62 at home on Jan. 26.