You only need to watch a little bit of any of the Nipissing Lakers women's basketball games to see the improvement the team has shown.

Up against two of the better teams in the OUA, the Lakers put together a solid performance in their final weekend, but after a loss Friday to Ottawa, Nipissing was unable to generate much offence in a 59-43 loss to the Carleton Ravens Saturday night.

Playing on home court for the final time in 2015-16, the Lakers once again came out a bit slow and found themselves in a hole early on.

The Ravens had a 12-4 before the Lakers began to fight back, but they were unable to make a big enough dent in the deficit to climb back into the game before the quarter ended.

In the second, the defensive side of the ball improved a little, but the offence continued to sputter as they scored just nine points for the second consecutive quarter.

Carleton had a 26-13 lead around the midway point of the quarter and finished strong, holding a 34-18 lead at halftime.

Four of the five Lakers starters had points through the first 20 minutes and two players off the bench – Maeve Therriault and Michaela Branker – had baskets as well.

In the second half, the Lakers started to heat up, as they cut the lead to 10 points early in the third quarter, scoring seven of the first eight points.

With the score 35-25 Carleton, the Ravens pushed the lead again, but Nipissing refused to quit and climbed back within 10 with 6:43 left in the third.

Unfortunately, that was as close as they would get.

The Ravens picked up their game and finished the quarter up 51-31.

Nipissing managed to outscore the Ravens in the final quarter, allowing just eight points, but it was too little too late at that point, as the Ravens escaped with a victory.

The score in the second half was 25-25, but it was the tough first half that spoiled the Lakers finale, with Carleton coming away winners by a final of 59-43.

Claire Abbott led the Lakers with 22 points, Maeve Therriault added six, and Jamie Soffer and Alexe Galipeau-Wilson each added four.

The Lakers finished 3-16, and while they'll miss the playoffs, they improved immensely on the court, both in the standings and by the way they played and competed with every team in the league.