Finish strong. That’s the mantra of Kansas University’s win-starved and emotionally drained women’s basketball team.

“We have two guaranteed games left,” KU junior Blair Waltz said, “and we have to go out and play as hard as we can.”

The first of those guaranteed games will be tonight against Iowa State. Tipoff for both teams’ regular-season finale will be 7:05 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.

The second will be in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

Texas A&M’s loss to Missouri Wednesday night means KU will have to defeat Iowa State to avoid the No. 12 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament in Dallas.

A&M and Kansas will have tied for last place, but the Aggies own the tie-breaker based on a regular-season win over the Jayhawks.

Interim KU coach Lynette Woodard, who has been trying to keep the ship afloat during an eight-game losing streak, sees a silver lining in the cloud of instability created by longtime coach Marian Washington’s leave of absence and eventual retirement Friday.

“We can be the spoiler,” Woodard said. “If we can keep the fighting spirit, you never know what will happen.”

Iowa State heads into tonight’s game knowing it cannot improve its conference tournament seed with a win. The Cyclones will meet Missouri, win or lose, in the battle between the 8-9 seeds at noon Tuesday in Dallas.

ISU will be looking for its third consecutive regular-season series sweep of KU. The Cyclones spilled the Jayhawks, 73-58, Feb. 17 in Allen Fieldhouse.

Iowa State bombarded KU with three-point goals in the first meeting. KU, meanwhile, ranks last in the league in three-point goals. In fact, Iowa State’s Megan Ronhovde has made only five fewer threes than the entire KU team this season.

Ronhovde has made 51 of 139 attempts; the Jayhawks have made 56 of 207.