Texas A&M’s Kelsey Bone grabs a rebound against Kansas’ Aishah Sutherland (11) during the first half. A&M beat KU, 62-51, Saturday in College Station, Texas.

College Station, Texas ? Defending national women’s basketball champion Texas A&M is playing itself into Big 12 contention, while Kansas University is quickly falling out of it.

The Aggies beat KU, 62-51, Saturday night for their third-straight victory. At 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big 12, the 18th-ranked Aggies are tied for Oklahoma for second place in the league behind undefeated Baylor.

KU, meanwhile, dropped its third straight and fourth of five to fall to 16-6 and 5-5. The Jayhawks are all alone in fifth in the league.

Kelsey Bone had a season-high 26 points and eight rebounds against the Jayhawks.

“I wish we had a few more games against Kansas, because her two best games against Kansas were her best,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. “She’s starting to know when to pull it out or make that pass in there. It’s taken her awhile to realize what a shot is, what a good shot is and what a great shot is.”

Sydney Carter added 15 points for Texas A&M (16-5, 7-3).

“It’s nice to finally get chemistry with this team,” Carter said. “We’ve been waiting so long to say we’re clicking and we’re gelling. It’s a transition from last year where we knew each other like the back of our hands. We carried that so long, it was a key reason why we won last year.”

The Aggies never trailed, but saw a big second-half lead dwindle to four points with less than two minutes remaining. A three-point play by Bone extended the lead to 58-51.

A steal by Tyra White gave the Aggies the ball back after that, and Carter added a pair of free throws. A layup by Bone after another turnover by Kansas made it 62-51 with 42 seconds left.

The Jayhawks received 11 points each from Angel Goodrich and Aishah Sutherland.

Carolyn Davis, who entered the game averaging a team-leading 18.1 points a game, was limited to six points after getting into early foul trouble dealing with Bone.

“She was getting deep catches and at that point any great post player can score,” Davis, who had 10 rebounds, said of Bone. “With my defensive pressure, I should have been able to get in front to of her.”

Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson was disappointed that Davis picked up her third foul less than one minute into the second half, which changed the way she could handle Bone.

“She got deep, and Carolyn got in foul trouble and then she’s hesitant,” Henrickson said. “We’ve got to get into somebody a little bit harder and make them put the ball on the floor. Bone got right in front of the rim and got high percentage shots.”

Texas A&M was up by 17 points early in the second half before Kansas used a 22-10 run to get to 50-45 with about seven minutes remaining. Davis got the run going with two buckets, and CeCe Harper capped it with a three-pointer.

The Aggies missed seven shots and had five turnovers in that span to allow Kansas to get back in it.

Carter got A&M back on track with a three-pointer after Kansas cut the lead to five. The Jayhawks responded with a 6-2 run to get to 55-51 before Bone’s key three-point play.

The Aggies used an 8-0 run to open the second half and extend their lead to 40-23 with just under 18 minutes remaining. Bone scored six of the points in that span.

Texas A&M jumped to an 8-0 lead powered by four points from Bone and was ahead 32-23 at halftime.