For the Nipissing Lakers, it was a consistent effort, but it wasn't enough against one of the top teams in the country.

The Lakers played hard for 40 minutes at both end of the court, but coming off a loss, the Carleton Ravens were too much for the Lakers, as Carleton walked away with a 71-39 victory Friday night in North Bay.

Nipissing had a strong start to the game and played well through the early portion of the second quarter, but the Ravens slowly found their legs and their shooting improved, leading them to the win.

Down 16-10 after the first, the Lakers clawed their way back into the game and cut the deficit to just two, as they were down 17-15 early in the second, but from there, Carleton took over.

The Ravens scored 23 points in the second quarter and led 39-20 at the halftime break.

Down entering the second half, the Lakers needed to chip away at the deficit, but as they pushed, the Ravens extended their lead with some strong shooting and rebounding skills, as they padded their lead and had the 56-30 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Carleton put the game out of hand in the fourth, posting 15 more points, while limiting the Lakers to just nine.

The Lakers had solid balance offensively, as they were able to see contributions from both starters and players coming off the bench, but it wasn't enough in the end.

Leading the Lakers in scoring were Heidi Smith who had eight, Claire Abbott had seven and both Michaela Branker and Alexe Galipeau-Wilson added six in the game.

In total, nine of the 10 players to hit the court for the Lakers scored at least a basket, showing the team's depth and balance.

The team will look to rebound and get into the win column Saturday night when they host the Ottawa Gee Gees

Tip-off set for 6pm at the RJS Athletic Centre.