Columbia, Mo. ? Kansas State had to overcome a sluggish start for the second straight game. Missouri’s Evan Unrau didn’t make it easy either.

Kendra Wecker scored nine of her 26 points in the second overtime to lead the eighth-ranked Wildcats to a 93-90 victory over Missouri Sunday. To do it, they had to rally from a 15-point second-half deficit.

“I guess we kind of wish it wasn’t a theme,” said Wecker, who had only two points in the first half. “To be down by as many as we did and to come back and keep fighting and get a win, it has to give us a little confidence in ourselves.

“But at the same time, we can’t come out and play stinky like we did the first 20 minutes.”

Evan Unrau had a career-high 40 points, the most in the Big 12 Conference this season and one shy of the school record for Missouri (13-11, 4-9 Big 12). Unrau also had 15 rebounds for the Tigers, who los,t 95-59, in the conference opener at Kansas State on Jan. 7.

“I’ve said it many times, I think Evan is one of the best players in the country,” Missouri coach Cindy Stein said. “She’s been the heart and soul of this team, and I think our kids are feeding off of that.”

Nicole Ohlde had 23 points, Megan Mahoney added a season-high 20, and Laurie Koehn had 19 with five three-pointers for Kansas State (21-3, 12-1), which has won eight straight and took over first place in the Big 12. The Wildcats had been tied with No. 1 Texas, which lost, 62-49, to No. 9 Texas Tech.

The Wildcats were behind by 10 points before beating Texas A&M, 59-56, Wednesday. They trailed 40-29 at halftime against Missouri.

“For 30 minutes, they completely and totally outplayed us,” Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. “Fortunately, we kicked it into another gear, on the defensive end particularly.”

Unrau, a senior forward who became the eighth Missouri player to score 1,500 career points, forced the first overtime with a layup off an inbounds pass with 3.6 seconds left. She fouled out with 1.9 seconds to go in the second overtime and was 15-for-27 from the field, just missing the school record of 41 points by Renee Kelly in 1986.

“I just wanted to win,” Unrau said. “We’re at the point of the season where we have to win.”

Mahoney had six points and Unrau five in the first overtime. Unrau came up short on a baseline drive with two seconds left.

Kansas State scored the first seven points of the second overtime and led by as many as eight late in the period. Missouri had a chance to force a third overtime, but LaToya Bond’s heave from half-court banged off the backcourt.

“At the rate the game was going, I made sure I watched it all the way,” Ohlde said.

Four straight points by Unrau, her first of the second half, gave Missouri its biggest lead at 56-41 with 11:52 to go.