Oakland University women’s basketball lost 67-63 in the final seconds against Omaha at the O’rena Saturday. It was the first home game for the women since Jan. 12.

Freshman forward Olivia Nash had 13 points and four rebounds. Freshman guard Annemarie Hamlet finished the game with 12 points, including two three-pointers.

“We’re getting really good experience in close games with such a young team,” head coach Beckie Francis said. “We’re going to really learn from this and there are areas we need to improve on and when we correct those areas, one possession losses will turn into wins.”

Oakland (8-13, 2-7 Summit) fell behind early as Omaha (15-7, 5-5 Summit) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. A three-pointer from freshman guard Elena Popkey followed by a two-point basket from A. Hamlet pushed the Grizzlies on top, 5-4.

“It was nice to be able to come out and to be able to play with the other starting four,” A. Hamlet said of her starting role. “Things started clicking early for all of us to begin with so we were playing really well.”

A. Hamlet hit another three-point shot to stretch Oakland’s lead to four. The Grizzlies kept the momentum on their side and went on a 14-5 run to go on top 21-11.

Oakland was able to hold off Omaha for the majority of the first half until they began creeping back with just over two and half minutes left to play.

Omaha hit two three-pointers in a row to make it 33-28. Nash answered with a three-pointer of her own to give Oakland a 36-28 lead.

At halftime, the Grizzlies led 36-31. They shot 51.7 percent in the first half while holding Omaha to a 44.8 shooting percentage.

After a loss against Fort Wayne that came down to the final minutes, the Grizzlies looked to get off to a strong start in the second half. An 11-4 run gave Oakland a 47-35 lead.

Omaha got within four points with just under 12 minutes left to play. Oakland fought hard to hold them off, but the Mavericks were relentless.

Omaha senior guard Jamie Nash went 1-2 at the free throw line to tie the game up 57-57 with 5:39 remaining in the game. Oakland was able to regain the lead after points from Popkey and A. Hamlet put them back on top 61-57.

With 40 seconds left in the game, Omaha took the lead 62-61. Oakland was unable to answer, and fell 67-63.

“The thing that is getting us at the end of the games which coach keeps telling us is rebounding,” A. Hamlet said. “We have to be fighters at the end. We need to rip those rebounds, we need to be stronger.”

The absence of junior guard Zakiya Minifee proved to have an impact on the Grizzlies. Coach Francis said that without her, it was up to four freshmen to come up with the game-winning rebounds.

“When you lose Zakiya, you lose a lot,” Francis said. “Quite frankly, I think we’re doing great. We’re so close with no experience on the floor, it’s actually crazy. We put one or two little things together, this team is dangerous.”

Despite being in last place in the conference, the team’s attitude is still strong.

“We’re not necessarily struggling, we just keep learning” A. Hamlet said. “So we’re going to get back to that point. It’s not like we disappeared. We’re still there and we’re coming back harder.”

Oakland will head on the road again to North Dakota State Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. The next home game will come Feb. 14 against South Dakota at 6:30 p.m.