Kansas freshman Lauren Aldridge drives past Texas freshman Brooke McCarty (11) during their game Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Forty minutes.

Roughly the time it takes to get from Lawrence to downtown Kansas City. The total running time of several of those primetime television shows — minus the commercials, of course. Or the number of minutes freshman Lauren Aldridge plays just about every time the Kansas University women’s basketball team hits the floor.

It was not always this way, of course, but it has been for the better part of the past three weeks, as the ninth-seeded Jayhawks (15-16 overall, 6-12 Big 12) have crawled back closer to .500 and enter the Big 12 tournament — which opens today in Dallas with a 6 p.m. game against No. 8 Kansas State — as the only team in the conference on a winning streak.

Lauren Aldridge

KU closed the regular season with back-to-back victories over the second- (Oklahoma) and fifth-seeded (Iowa State) teams in this weekend’s tournament, and did so with Aldridge tallying 20 points, 16 assists and five turnovers while playing all 80 minutes.

“You can’t underestimate how good that kid’s been,” said KU coach Bonnie Henrickson of her freshman point guard. “Every night. Forty minutes. Every night? For heaven’s sakes.”

Aldridge’s transition from Marshfield (Missouri) High to Big 12 floor general has not been without its struggles. There were times when she was in a funk, struggled to keep up, could not find her shot or wrestled with turnovers. But each hiccup was short-lived and all are a distant memory at this point.

“It’s hard to be dependable as a freshman,” Henrickson said. “It’s hard to be dependable as a point guard. And now be both. And that kid’s done that. And she leads. She matches ’em up. She’s getting comfortable with her voice now. She’s done a great job.”

Aldridge, who played for her father, Steve, throughout high school, credits the current KU seniors for both helping her find her way and allowing her to emerge as a leader. Although such a scenario, which rarely happens, can take time to develop in most programs, it only took about six days for Aldridge and the Jayhawks. The 5-foot-7 point guard remembers the moment her leadership first showed up like it was yesterday.

“We were doing this mine field exercise in the practice gym in June,” Aldridge said. “We were blindfolded and we couldn’t hit the cones. I don’t even know what happened. My inner-leader took over and I started directing people and telling people what to do and the seniors were like, ‘OK, let her do it.’ That was kind of a moment for me where I realized, OK they’re gonna let me lead if I want to.”

KU’s upperclassmen, Aldridge’s fellow-freshmen and even Henrickson were glad she wanted to. And as they prepare for this weekend’s Big 12 tourney, where they’ll be playing for their postseason lives, there’s not a player on the roster any of them would rather have leading the way.

“I just think it was a gradual thing,” said Aldridge, a 4.0-student who earned Big 12 freshman first-team honors this season. “My teammates were gaining trust in me, my coaches were gaining trust in me, I was gaining trust in myself and I just hit that moment where I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got this under control.'”

Probable starters

Kansas (15-16, 6-12)

G — Natalie Knight, 5-7, sr.

G — Lauren Aldridge, 5-7, fr.

G — Chayla Cheadle, 6-0, rr.

F — Jada Brown, 6-0, so.

F — Chelsea Gardner, 6-3, sr.

Kansas State (17-12, 7-11)

G — Haley Texada, 5-6, sr.

G — Ashia Woods, 5-10, sr.

G — Kindred Wesemann, 5-6, soph.

F — Breanna Lewis, 6-5, soph.

F — Shalyn Martin, 6-0, fr.