How big?

Big.

Indescribably big.

Breanna Arbuckle couldn’t put it into words. The Hawaii senior forward had never walked off the court with a victory over Louisiana Tech … until Thursday night.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Arbuckle said after the Rainbow Wahine upset the Lady Techsters 61-46 at the Stan Sheriff Center. “It’s big, beating a great school, especially by more than a couple of points. It’s big for our confidence, something that we can carry over to Saturday and keep building on it.”

Saturday and New Mexico State can wait. At least until today’s practice, Hawaii (6-11, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference) can savor just its fourth victory in 28 meetings with perennial powerhouse LaTech (8-10, 1-2).

The Wahine came so close last season at home, only to lose in overtime. Sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson had a chance to win it in regulation, needing to hit both free throws. She made just one.

Jackson more than made up for it Thursday night with her ninth double-double of the season, finishing with game highs of 16 points and 15 rebounds. She was 8-for-11 from the line, including 4-for-4 in the final 6 minutes.

“We work on free throws every day in practice,” said Jackson, ranked in the top 15 nationally in double-doubles. “We knew (LaTech) would make a run and we knew we needed to hit the free throws.”

Hawaii finished 22-for-28 from the line, hitting its last 11 “and that shows mental toughness,” Wahine coach Dana Takahara-Dias said. “Every win is a signature win for us, but this one came with great leadership from a number of our players.

“It was a tremendous team win and very sweet to start our home conference play with a win. We understand that it’s only one game, but tonight we made the plays when we needed to. Even if Louisiana Tech isn’t having the year everyone expected, they are still Louisiana Tech.”

And victories over the Lady Techsters have been rare. This was the first one for Hawaii since March 6, 2008, meaning no current Wahine player had ever beaten them.

LaTech, the preseason WAC favorite, got 15 points from senior forward Shantale Bramble-Donaldson. With an imbalance in foul shots — the Lady Techsters had just seven chances, making four — LaTech relied on outside shooting to make things interesting in the second half.

Hawaii never trailed, taking a 26-17 lead at intermission. The Wahine expanded their margin to as much as 13 after halftime and had a double-digit lead (34-24) until the Lady Techsters finally found their shots.

Bramble-Donaldson hit one of two free throws and added a putback, and Brittany Hardy nailed a 3-pointer to cut it to 34-30 with 12:47 to go. The Wahine held, getting a basket from reserve freshman center Kalei Adolpho with 2 seconds on the shot clock to put UH on top 41-34 with 8:31 left.

Adolpho followed it up with a steal that Arbuckle turned into a score and a 43-37 margin. Hawaii used six unanswered free throws to push it to 49-37, only to have the Lady Techsters go on a 9-2 run to close to 51-46 with 83 seconds remaining.

Enter freshman guard Alissa Campanero, who played a part in the Wahine’s final push. She hit four free throws, including two after being horse-collared on an intentional foul; assisted on Arbuckle’s final basket; then hit a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.

Hawaii outrebounded LaTech 47-38, with Jackson getting a dozen on the defensive end and Arbuckle getting all eight of hers on the defensive boards.

Note

The Wahine will hold an autograph session on the outer concourse of the arena following their game with New Mexico State on Saturday.