Twenty minutes or so after watching her team struggle inside for the third consecutive game, coach Bonnie Henrickson revealed a small scrap — or maybe more appropriately a scrap heap — of Kansas’ offensive game plan.

“We haven’t had a low post presence in two weeks,” Henrickson said. “None. We don’t even run the stuff we used to run because we’ve struggled so much.”

A slight overstatement? Maybe. An alarming development? Definitely.

In Kansas’ three games before playing Missouri on Saturday, the Jayhawks received partial contributions from low post players. Freshman forward Aishah Sutherland scored 12 points against Colorado and sophomore center Krysten Boogaard scored eight points in the first half against Texas A&M.

But the root of the problem is consistency. Sutherland and Boogaard, Kansas’ best two inside options, have played impressively for portions of games. Then, for somewhat murky reasons, Boogaard and Sutherland seem to fade.

“(Boogaard) has to sit down, work around the rim and get a high-percentage shot,” Henrickson said. “She has to play like a 6-5 kid and get in front of the rim.”

In Kansas’ 67-58 loss at Nebraska on Jan. 21, Boogaard scored 12 points, while nearly posting double-digits in rebounds. Yet, Boogaard managed just six second-half points and four of those points came in the game’s final minute.

Kansas led by one at halftime and, not coincidentally, struggled with any production on the offensive end in the second half.

Without a consistent ability to score inside, the Jayhawks have relied almost exclusively on settling for jump shots and one-on-one drives by guards. Those options, while effective at times, leave little room for error.

“Right about now, we can’t rely on our perimeter,” junior forward Danielle McCray said. “We have to go inside. And that’s something that we’re lacking right now.”

To heap much of the blame on the post players, though, is unfair. While Boogaard, Sutherland and sophomore forward Nicollette Smith often don’t demand the ball, Kansas’ guards haven’t made the situation much easier.

At times, the Jayhawks pass inside when the post isn’t in favorable scoring position or, as was the case at Missouri, they simply make an errant pass.

“We were making passes we didn’t make all season, just making bonehead plays,” McCray said. “We didn’t play our game the whole night.”

Missouri’s two top inside players, forwards Shakara Jones and Jessra Johnson, combined for 35 points, six rebounds and made 13 of 18 shot attempts.

Missouri outscored Kansas 30-16 in the paint, almost scoring at will inside.

“We needed to get stops and here we are letting them get easy buckets,” junior guard Sade Morris said. “We have to box out and get the rebound. We weren’t doing that (Saturday).”

Indeed, the Jayhawks appeared physically outmanned by the Tigers — a drastic and distinct change from Kansas’ 75-58 handling of Missouri earlier in the season.

In that game, Boogaard scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Sure, those numbers aren’t staggering, but because of guards’ inabilities to get her the ball or Boogaard’s inability to create openings, she didn’t get many touches.

For the past four games, those same problems have persisted.

“We get nothing inside,” Henrickson said. “Guards don’t look, but we don’t have a post that says ‘throw me the ball.’ ”

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson