Without their best long range shooter, the Jayhawks have slightly changed their plans and brought things inside.

Senior guard Danielle McCray tore the ACL in her left knee during Thursday’s practice, promptly ending her career at Kansas.

So when Kansas defeated Kansas State 70-60 Sunday, it was derived from a recipe of doing more of everything that McCray didn’t.

“We’ve got to establish an inside game, throw it to them early to give them some confidence and get some bigs in foul trouble,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Freshman guard Monica Engelman assumed McCray’s starting position and led her team in scoring with a career high 16 points in a full 40 minutes of play. But Engelman is no McCray. Skill-wise, someday perhaps. Role-wise, as of now, nowhere close.

“I think she went four for six in the sets that typically are for Danielle,” Henrickson said. “But Monica’s been in that spot as Danielle’s been in foul trouble.”

Engelman was efficient in converting six-of-nine shots Sunday, but her shooting totals indicate that she is a popular option, but not the primary one. Through 20 games this season, McCray averaged just below 16 shot attempts per game. In only one of those 20 games did she attempt fewer than 10 shots as Engelman did Sunday in a full 40 minutes. Reason being for the lone anomaly, McCray was benched because of severe foul trouble. She recorded just 28 minutes of play in a 54-49 victory against UCLA Dec. 3rd.

By no means is this is a criticism of Engelman. It would be unwise of her to shoot as much as McCray in her first career start, especially considering the success that she had by taking just nine shots. But if Engelman isn’t taking those approximate seven extra shots that McCray fired away, someone else is.

That’s where Henrickson considers some interior design.

“We need production from the posts,” junior forward Nicollette Smith said. “Bonnie has been pounding that into our brains.”

Henrickson didn’t even bother playing junior guards Marisha Brown or Rhea Codio for a single minute Sunday. While it was mostly because Engelman and senior guard Sade Morris played just about the entire game (Morris sat just one minute), the decision was also based on the need to integrate junior center Krysten Boogaard into the rotation.

“She’s got to keep people off the glass,” Henrickson said. “I challenge her daily to be better on the defensive boards.”

Henrickson allotted bench minutes based on her team’s needs. She gave Smith and Boogaard a total of 29 minutes, while senior Kelly Kohn was the only guard off the bench with just three minutes.

“Yesterday I felt like it was the right thing to do,” Henrickson said. “I felt like our kids never got real fatigued.”

Despite using a three guard starting lineup, 35 of Kansas’ 70 points were scored by forwards and centers.

The emphasis on getting the ball to the post players cashed in when one might have thought that the only prize had just gone down to injury. No McCray, no problem. Kansas forced the ball inside and attacked the rim for high percentage and often uncontested shots. As a result, Kansas finished with a pristine 56 percent shooting from the field.

“I don’t think we took a bad shot in the game,” Morris said. “We were getting layups and knocking down free throws and that helped our percentage.”

— Edited by Kristen Liszewski