It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to determine what’s ailing Kansas University’s women’s basketball team.

You can’t win if you can’t score, and the young Jayhawks are the lowest-scoring and poorest-shooting team in the Big 12 Conference.

Little wonder, then, that coach Bonnie Henrickson devoted nearly two hours of a 21â2-hour practice late last week stressing ways to produce points.

“I was talking to my other coaches,” Henrickson said, “and I don’t think we’ve ever spent that much time coaching offense.”

Scoring has been less of a problem for KU’s next foe. Santa Clara University is averaging more than 70 points a game, compared to KU’s 58.5.

Tipoff will be at 2 p.m. today in Allen Fieldhouse. Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 will carry a live telecast.

“They’re making 10 threes a game,” Henrickson said of the Broncos. “I don’t know if we’ve faced a team that executes the halfcourt offense like they do.”

The Broncos didn’t execute very well Friday night in Manhattan, bowing to Kansas State, 76-52. Santa Clara made only 3 of 15 three-point attempts, all by leading scorer Chandice Cronk, who settled for nine points, about half her average.

Meanwhile, Ashley Graham, the other half of the Broncos’ 1-2 scoring punch, was 0-for-7 from the field and failed to score. Graham is averaging nearly 12 points a game.

Kansas, meanwhile, doesn’t have a single player who averages in double-figure scoring. Marija Zinic leads the Jayhawks at 9.5 points a game. Zinic, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, scored 15 points in KU’s opener against Seton Hall, then 16 points the next game against Iowa, but has tailed off since.

Meanwhile, Henrickson has been relying heavily on freshmen to provide scoring punch. Frosh, in fact, scored 51 of KU’s 65 points in their last outing, a 73-65 loss to No. 16 California.

Danielle McCray came off the bench against to Golden Bears to lead the Jayhawks in scoring (19 points) and rebounding (9). With three freshmen – Kelly Kohn, LaChelda Jacobs and Sade Morris – already starting, Henrickson isn’t likely to elevate McCray.

“I doubt it,” the KU coach said. “If she doesn’t start, she’ll be the first one in and will still play about 30 minutes.”

A week of final exams, Henrickson said, shouldn’t have been a distraction. Full-scale practices didn’t begin until Wednesday.

“We were fortunate to have everyone in for at least a couple of hours,” the KU coach said, “so it wasn’t really that disruptive.”

Kansas will be trying to halt a three-game losing streak today. The Jayhawks’ last win was Nov. 29 against Western Illinois. KU will travel to Indiana next Thursday for its last game before Christmas.