Oakland lost on the road to Omaha 59-41 at Sapp Fieldhouse on Thursday night.

Freshman guard Elena Popkey finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. Freshman forward Sinclair Russell had 10 points, shooting 4-7 with four rebounds.

It was a close game early as Oakland (7-8, 1-2) exchanged baskets with Omaha (10-3, 2-1), getting the scoring off to a 9-9 start. Junior guard Victoria Lipscomb accounted for four of Oakland’s nine points during that stretch.

Omaha pulled away with a 7-0 run, extending their lead to 16-9. Five of Omaha’s seven points came courtesy of senior guard Carolyn Blair-Mobley.

Blair-Mobley finished the game with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Popkey answered with a steal and a layup to bring Oakland within five. After freshman forward Olivia Nash’s two-point jumper, Popkey tied the game up 18-18 with a layup.

With four seconds remaining in the first half, Lipscomb made a two-point basket to put Oakland on top 25-24.

Omaha began the second half with an 8-2 run to jump out to a 32-27 lead.

Despite getting within four points, Oakland was unable to recapture any momentum. Omaha went on a 12-2 run to stretch their lead to 47-33.

The deficit was too much to overcome as the Grizzlies fell 59-41.

Thursday marked the first time in nearly a month that Nash was back on the court after being sidelined with an injury. She finished with nine points and four rebounds in 15 minutes of play.

Omaha junior guard Paige Frauendorfer ended the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Mavericks shot 41 percent as a team.

Oakland was out rebounded 44-28.

Both teams were even in turnovers with 17 each. Oakland finished the game shooting 31 percent.

Oakland will return to the Athletics Center O’rena Jan. 10 against South Dakota State (9-5, 2-0) at 6:30 p.m.