Kansas' Krysten Boogaard (14) tries to sneak a shot around Oklahoma's Courtney Paris (3) during the game Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009, at Allen Fieldhouse.

If there were any curiosity about how Kansas University women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson felt watching her team struggle to arguably its most stagnant shooting performance of the season Saturday night, it was quickly put to rest when, in the moments following the Jayhawks’ 69-54 home loss to No. 2 Oklahoma, she immediately began grasping for hyperbole.

“What’s that saying?” asked Henrickson, having barely taken her seat at the postgame news conference. “Couldn’t throw it in the ocean sitting in a tugboat?”

In the midst of a 2-7 slide since the start of Big 12 play, a game against high-powered Oklahoma wasn’t exactly welcomed by the Jayhawks, and there was a widespread understanding among players that, with sisters Ashley and Courtney Paris (who entered the game averaging a combined 29.8 points and 23.2 rebounds per game) manning the paint for OU, there would be little room for error.

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, there was a good portion of error on Valentine’s Day. The Jayhawks shot just 26 percent from the field — including 19 percent in the first half, when they made only six of 31 field-goal attempts — and repeatedly missed open baskets en route to falling into a double-digit first-half deficit.

While KU found it easier than expected to get open looks, getting 12 shots in the paint in the game’s first 20 minutes, the Jayhawks found it quite a bit harder to convert them, connecting on only three in a display that left players shaking their heads in confusion afterward.

“There was literally a lid on the rim, because it would go in, and it would come back out,” said KU guard LaChelda Jacobs, who finished just 1-of-6 shooting. “We got great looks, but they just didn’t fall for us.”

Despite their shooting woes, however, Kansas managed to keep things relatively close throughout. Thanks largely to the post-intermission emergence of Danielle McCray, who shot just 1-of-7 from the field in the first half, the Jayhawks managed to cut the deficit to 10 with just over 10 minutes to play.

But a 9-2 Sooners run in the ensuing minutes, during which OU took advantage of two untimely Kansas turnovers, allowed them to push their lead to 52-35 with just over eight minutes to play and subsequently derail any hopes of a KU upset.

“That’s just where we’ve got to buckle down and know that we’ve got to find a shot some way,” said McCray, who finished with a game-high 23 points after starting the game on the bench. “And we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

A bright spot for the Jayhawks, who fell to 13-10 (2-8 in the Big 12), is that they managed to keep the touted Paris twins relatively in check. Senior Courtney Paris, a consensus All-American as a freshman, sophomore and junior, was held to single-digit points for just the second time in her career, finishing with nine points and 15 rebounds Saturday.

While Henrickson praised the efforts of her post players, however, she was also quick to point out that Courtney Paris’ lack of scoring success wasn’t necessarily due to KU’s stout defensive efforts.

“I think (Oklahoma coach) Sherri Coale was Courtney’s best defense tonight,” said the coach, referring to the long stretches OU’s standout spent on the bench. “I don’t know that we did that much.”

If nothing else, Saturday’s loss — coupled with solid stretches of play in a 74-66 loss to No. 13 Texas last week — provides the struggling Jayhawks with a positive premonition: When they’re playing their best basketball, they can compete with the conference’s elite.

Now, they’ll spend the next few days attempting to figure out a way to do that consistently, before heading to Colorado on Wednesday for a matchup against the Buffalos.

“We’ve got to get it right,” Henrickson said. “(Colorado’s) the biggest game of the year for us right now. We’ve got to figure out a way to win one, and put some of these performances in spurts that we’ve had both against Texas and (tonight) and … grind one out on the road.”

Star-studded lineup: While already featuring arguably the nation’s most talented lineup, the Sooners also can make a pretty good case for roster-featuring-the-most-athletically-gifted-kin.

Sooners reserve center Abi Olajuwon is the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, and reserve forward Carlee Roethlisberger is sister to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben.

Saturday, however, neither proved quite as dominant as her superstar relative. Olajuwon finished with five points and two rebounds in eight minutes, and Roethlisberger added four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.