While the playoffs might not be in the cards this year for the Nipissing Lakers women's basketball team, there's still a lot to play for in their final weekend.

The Lakers are in tough to make the post-season, needing a win over either Ottawa or Carleton, coupled with a Laurentian loss, but there is an outside shot.

Ottawa and Carleton are a combined 27-7, so Nipissing will need to be at the top of their game if they're going to pull off the upset.

The Lakers are coming off a tough weekend, dropping games to McMaster and Brock on the road.

In their past five, Nipissing is 1-4, with their lone win coming over the Voyageurs in Sudbury a few weeks ago – a must win at the time, however, their last two losses have hurt their chances moving forward.

Nipissing has already set new standards for the program, winning their first game in the program's history and adding two more victories to that total for three on the season – two in the first semester and one in the second semester.

Building off that, the Lakers will have a positive off-season as they try to take the next step in their progress.

Ottawa enters the weekend and Friday's matchup having won their past four games and are 4-1 in the past five, losing only to Carleton at the start of February.

Offensively, Ottawa has scored at least 60 points in all but one of their wins in the 2016 portion of the season and average 68.5 overall during the season.

They're an impressive 7-0 on the road and could go undefeated with a pair of wins up north this weekend.

In the first meeting between the two teams, Ottawa defeated Nipissing 65-46 in the nation's capital to kick off the season.

Saturday's matchup doesn't get much easier for the Lakes, as they face the Ravens who are also 4-1 in their past five outings.

Carleton enters the weekend with a poor 2-4 record away from the Ravens Nest, so the Lakers will look to capitalize on their poor play away from home.

The Ravens scored at pace of 67.9 points per game and put up 78 in the first meeting between the two teams in early November.

Nipissing's record could be improved if they were able to sneak out a few wins in tight games, as two of their losses came by single digits, with a third by 11 points.

It would not be a stretch to think their record could be 6-11 right now, but instead, they'll need to ignore the stats and go out and play this weekend from whistle to whistle both Friday and Saturday night.

Tip-off for both showdowns is set for 6 p.m. at the RJS Athletic Centre.