Moments of magic. Just not enough of them for Hawaii.

Not at the end of regulation.

Not at the end of overtime.

While Louisiana Tech no longer is part of women’s basketball royalty as it once was, a win over the reigning conference champions last night would have been significant for the Rainbow Wahine in so many ways.

Confidence. Momentum. Intangibles that Hawaii would have loved to pack for this week’s first Western Athletic Conference road trip.

It was not to be.

Freshman Kamilah Jackson missed a potential game-winning free throw with 2.6 seconds left in regulation and Hawaii was outscored 13-8 in overtime in falling to Louisiana Tech 74-69 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine dropped to 6-9 (0-2 WAC) and take a three-game losing streak with them for Thursday’s game at Idaho.

Hawaii trailed by as many as eight in the second half, but closed to 61-60 on two free throws by Jackson with 51 seconds left. Shawna-Lei Kuehu blocked LaTech’s Whitney Jones with 24 seconds to go and the Wahine missed four shots at going ahead, the last by Jackson, who was fouled on the putback attempt. The 70 percent free-throw shooter missed the first, but made the second to send it into overtime.

"My only thought was that I had to make at least one (free throw)," said Jackson, who finished with a game-high 20 rebounds and team-high 18 points. "My teammates told me, ‘Just make one.’

"No, I had never been in that situation to win a game at the line. It would have been big, they are the defending WAC champs. We showed we can hang with one of the top teams. We showed what we can do when we play together as a team. We played hard and we gave it our all."

UH coach Dana Takahara-Dias echoed that after the game.

"We would have loved to get a win, but we went toe-to-toe with the reigning WAC champs and had opportunities to win in both regulation and overtime," she said. "There were long spurts when we didn’t score, but we stayed in the game with defense. Now we have to put those two parts of the game together, offense and defense.

"We do leave with positive momentum on our trip. We had a great effort tonight. We aren’t focused on the shot Kamilah didn’t make. The fact is she got that offensive board, she got to the line, she got us the chance to win. We didn’t and Louisiana Tech made some great shots in overtime."

The Lady Techsters (10-5, 2-0) held every time Hawaii made a charge in the extra period. Rainbow Wahine senior forward Julita Bungaite hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 67 with 2:08 left, but LaTech answered with a three-point play by Jones.

Down 70-69, Hawaii had a chance to go ahead, but Bungaite missed on her 3-point attempt. The Lady Techsters pulled away with four free throws, finishing 23-for-27 from the line. The Wahine were 14-for-22.

Hawaii finished with a 52-38 edge in rebounds and "we take a huge positive out of that," Takahara-Dias said.