LOS ANGELES — Liz Little (Littleton, Colo.) matched her career high with 17 points on 5 of 13 shooting from the three-point line, but the Occidental College women's basketball team struggled from the field as a team and squandered a 10-point second-half lead in a 48-44 loss to Oberlin at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.

Little hit two threes during a 12-0 run to open the second half and put Oxy up 32-24 with 14:47 left in the second half. Makenzie Brandon (Seattle) hit a three and one of two free throws to put the Tigers up 10 with 9:41 to go, but then the wheels slowly started to come off.

Oberlin scored 13 unanswered points with the last bucket a three-pointer by Christina Marquette as the shot clock expired that gave the Yeowomen a 43-41 with 42 seconds left. Allison Gannon drove baseline, drew help and kicked it out to Marquette in the corner for the biggest basket of the game.

"It was a big time shot," Occidental College coach Anahit Aladzhanyan said. "I thought we played 29 seconds of great defense, but the 1 second got us."

The Tigers had an offensive dry spell late in the second half that lasted from the 5:21 mark until Little made her final three to bring Oxy within two, 46-44, with 7.5 seconds left. The Tigers fouled quickly after the basket but Marquette sunk two free throws to put the game away.

The Tigers settled for too many outside shots against primarily a 2-3 zone, converting just 8 of 31 three point attempts, and shot just 25 percent overall as a team.

Defense wasn't the problem. Oxy forced the Yeowomen into 19 turnovers and held Oberlin (4-1) to 38.9 percent shooting.

Brandon scored 12 and Elizabeth Messick (Reno, Nev.) grabbed 9 rebounds for the Tigers (1-2).

Oxy opens SCIAC play at home against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Rush Gymnasium.

"We just have to put this one behind us quickly, chalk it up as a learning experience and get ready for CMS on Thursday," Aladzhanyan said.