Although Kansas University’s women’s basketball team handled Incarnate Word, 68-46, Thursday night at Allen Fieldhouse, coach Bonnie Henrickson didn’t find many positives in the win — other than the fact she didn’t have to ask too much of her starting five.

The Jayhawks (6-2) hit 57 percent of their shots and went 8-for-12 from three-point range, but they didn’t really dominate any facet of the game against the overmatched Cardinals (2-5). KU turned the ball over 18 times, with UIW totaling 10 steals.

“We didn’t come out and impose our will,” Henrickson said, “which I was hoping for, which I was surprised that we chose not to — because that’s a choice not to do it. That’s got to start on the defensive end, and (you) fly around and create some opportunities in transition. We ended up in half-court offense, certainly more than I would’ve anticipated.”

Kansas scored just six fast-break points all night.

Senior forward Chelsea Gardner, who produced a game-high 17 points in just 21 minutes, pointed to the defensive end of the floor as a cause for concern, too.

“We really weren’t aggressive defensively,” Gardner said after she swatted three shots and KU allowed UIW to make just 32.8 percent of its field goals, “and we gave up a lot of one-legged layups.”

KU’s other four-year mainstay, senior guard Natalie Knight, finished with 11 points and six assists in 22 minutes. She said the Jayhawks shouldn’t feel good about the victory, because they often lacked energy and intensity.

Some might point to the matchup with the lesser Cardinals, out of the Southland Conference, as a trap game — Kansas lost to No. 2 Notre Dame four days ago and will play host to No. 10 Cal on Sunday.

“I think it definitely can be,” Knight said, “and it was for us tonight. But it shouldn’t have been that way. We should’ve treated this as preparation for our next game.”

None of the Jayhawks talked up their three-point marksmanship following the win, but senior guard Asia Boyd went 3-for-5 from deep on her way to a 13-point outing off the bench. Knight converted three of four from long range. Freshman guard Lauren Aldridge (five points) hit her only three-point try and fellow first-year starter Chayla Cheadle (10 points) made one of her two attempts from downtown.

Henrickson, of course, left the court more concerned with KU’s effort plays, including on the glass. UIW’s 32 rebounds nearly matched KU’s 35. The Cardinals’ Yvonne Maosa secured 13 boards on her own, with seven coming on offense.

“There were a couple of times there’s a ball up above the rim,” Henrickson said, “and we don’t have anybody up in the air to go get it. We got caught on our heels, and that’s concerning, certainly. Especially with what we know is coming in here on Sunday. It won’t look like that, and it won’t feel like that by any stretch.”

The 7-0 Golden Bears play at KU at 5 p.m. Sunday.

INCARNATE WORD (46)

MIN FG FT REB PF TP

m-a m-a o-t

Aricka Adams 37 4-12 2-2 2-3 1 10

Yvonne Maosa 33 3-9 0-1 7-13 1 6

Shanise Brooks 23 3-13 0-0 3-4 4 6

Jazmine Holman 31 1-3 2-2 1-3 1 4

Alyssa Ward 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0

Haley Frias 24 4-11 0-0 0-0 0 10

Quincy Baker 17 3-6 0-0 0-0 2 2

Melina Merritt 20 2-5 0-0 0-1 4 4

S. Swarts 7 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0

B. Birmingham 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0

team 3-7

Totals 20-61 4-5 17-32 13 46

Three-point goals: 2-6 (Frias 2-4, Adams 0-1, Merritt 0-1). Assists: 9 (Holman 3, Adams 2, Brooks, Frias, Merritt, Swarts). Turnovers: 17 (Adams 5, Holman 3, Maosa 2, Brooks, Ward, Frias, Merritt, team 3). Blocked shots: 3 (Brooks, Ward, Baker). Steals: 10 (Holman 5, Adams 2, Maosa, Brooks, Baker).

KANSAS (68)

MIN FG FT REB PF TP

m-a m-a o-t

Chelsea Gardner 21 6-11 5-8 2-4 1 17

Natalie Knight 22 4-8 0-0 2-5 0 11

Chayla Cheadle 29 4-7 1-4 3-6 2 10

Lauren Aldridge 21 2-2 0-0 0-1 2 5

Jada Brown 17 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 2

Asia Boyd 25 5-8 0-0 0-2 0 13

C. Manning-Allen 18 3-5 1-2 2-2 2 7

Terriell Bradley 21 1-2 1-4 0-2 4 3

Bunny Williams 20 0-1 0-0 0-8 1 0

L. Enabulele 6 0-0 0-1 0-1 0 0

team 0-2

Totals 25-46 8-19 10-35 12 68

Three-point goals: 8-12 (Knight 3-4, Boyd 3-5, Aldridge 1-1, Cheadle 1-2). Assists: 15 (Knight 6, Aldridge 3, Cheadle 2, Gardner, Brown, Boyd, Williams). Turnovers: 18 (Bradley 5, Cheadle 4, Boyd 4, Aldridge 3, Gardner, Manning-Allen). Blocked shots: 5 (Gardner 3, Manning-Allen 2). Steals: 11 (Knight 3, Cheadle 2, Gardner, Aldridge, Brown, Boyd, Manning-Allen, Bradley).

Incarnate Word 22 24 — 46

Kansas 33 35 — 68

Officials: Lisa Mattingly, Bob Trammell, Katie Lukanich. Attendance: 1,498.