Freshman Aishah Sutherland was feeling so confident with her game Wednesday night that she thought about performing a feat not attempted too often in women’s basketball after picking up a steal in the open floor.

With less than two minutes left, the score at 63-59 and only open court in front of her, Sutherland thought about doing the unthinkable.

“I didn’t think anyone was behind me and I slowed down to gather myself,” Sutherland said. “And I was going to dunk it.”

Although an Illinois State defender knocked the ball out of her hands, it was obvious that Sutherland was playing with confidence ­— and it wasn’t just her.

Sophomore Krysten Boogaard and Sutherland combined to shoot 10-for-12 from the field. They also combined for 14 rebounds and six blocked shots in a 75-72 victory over Illinois State in the semifinals of the Women’s NIT.

The Jayhawks looked inside early as they have all season, and Boogaard responded. Within the first two minutes of the game, Boogaard already had two relatively easy layups from post-entry passes. Boogaard said it was definitely part of the game plan to give the post players opportunities.

“I knew I needed to step up and be a presence inside,” Boogaard said.

At times, coach Bonnie Henrickson even played the pair together, a rare sight considering Sutherland primarily plays the same center position that Boogaard does.

“It creates a lot of opportunities,” Boogaard said. “It’s fun to play with her. She’s an athletic post.”

Sutherland says the reason they haven’t played together much before was because sometimes she and Boogaard didn’t communicate on the floor.

“Tonight we did that well,” Sutherland said. “It’s good when we can play together because it’s just a good turnout.”

Even when one of the posts missed, which was rare, the other was there to clean up. With just more than 13 minutes to go in the game, Boogaard drove into the paint and missed her first shot of the contest. Sutherland slipped into the weakside, rebounded the miss and converted the easy put-back. Henrickson said the play was “huge.”

The duo was also a huge presence on the defensive end. Both finished with three blocks a piece and altered many more. Illinois State star Kristi Cirone simply couldn’t deal with their length inside. She finished seven for 24 from the field, but a lot of her makes came in the final five minutes of the game.

Henrickson said that her team needs their post players to play well for them to succeed.

“You can’t play and screen as much as we do and have no chance to throw it in front of the rim,” Henrickson said. “Krysten and Aishah give us that chance.”

— — Edited by Carly Halvorson