FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Omaha women's basketball team couldn't completely recover from a slow start, falling 51-46 at Fort Wayne on Thursday night at the Gates Sports Center.

The Mavericks dropped to 14-7 overall and 4-5 in The Summit League with the loss. Fort Wayne improved to 4-5 in conference play and 8-13 overall.

Carolyn Blair-Mobley led UNO with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Jamie Nash had 11 points, and Taijhe Kelly matched her season high with eight points and set a new season high with 15 rebounds.

UNO fell behind 18-4 in the opening 7:10 but battled back to within single digits by halftime, 31-22. The Mavs scored the final three points of the first half and first four of the second half for a 7-0 run to get within 31-26 with 18:25 remaining.

Fort Wayne built the lead back to 13 at 41-28 with 13:07 left, but the Mavs quickly answered. Over the next three minutes, Blair-Mobley hit back-to-back threes and Kelly converted a layup to make it 42-36 with 10:36 to play.

With the Mavs down 48-41 with 2:40 left, Blair-Mobley hit another 3-pointer to make it 48-44, and after an IPFW free throw, Kelly scored from close range off of a feed from Ericka House and the Mavs were within one possession, 49-46, with 1:59 to play. After holding the Mastodons to two misses on their next possession, the Mavs had a chance but Kelly's mid-range jumper with 39 seconds left at the end of the shot clock missed and the Mastodons grabbed the rebound. IPFW's Erin Murphy hit a 15-foot jumper with 11 seconds left to seal the win.

The Mavs shot 39.1 percent (18-of-46), while Fort Wayne shot 34.6 percent (18-of-52). After shooting 21-of-22 from the free throw line last time out, the Mavericks were the victim of a bad night at the stripe at IPFW, going just 5-of-14 from the line (35.7 percent).

Amanda Hyde, the leading scorer in The Summit League, led the Mastodons with 18 points.

The Mavericks continue their road trip in Rochester, Mich., with a 1 p.m. (CT) game at Oakland on Saturday. It will be broadcast on 1180 AM The Zone 2 and at 1620thezone.com.