Boxscore

RUSTON ? Cassidy Chretien hit two free throws with 6.4 seconds to play as Hawaii defeated Louisiana Tech 60-59 before 2,142 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday night.

Chretien?s heroics came after Louisiana Tech senior guard Shan Moore hit two free throws with 18.9 seconds to play, giving the Lady Techsters a 59-58 lead ? their first since leading 16-14 with 12:19 to play in the opening half.

With the loss, Tech (13-11, 8-3 WAC) fell two full games behind Boise State in the Western Athletic Conference standings with five games remaining. Hawaii (11-12, 5-6) won for the fourth straight time.

?It all boils down to being able to score,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?You hold a team to 60 points and you feel like you should win, especially at home. Hawaii is the biggest team in this league and they force you to take tough shots a lot of times. They make you shoot over them and we just didn?t hit enough of them.?

Tech started the game hot, hitting 5-of-7 shots to take a 16-9 lead on a Ty Moore jumper with 14:06 to play in the first half. However, Hawaii then took control, using a 21-6 run over the next 12 minutes to grab a 30-22 advantage.

The Rainbow Wahine led 34-28 at the half after hitting 50 percent (14-28) of its field goals and limiting Tech to only 34 percent (11-32).

Hawaii opened the second half by pushing its advantage out to 39-30 on a jumper by Chretien with 15:45 to play before the Lady Techsters slowly started to whittle the deficit down.

Moore tied the game at 55-55 on a three-point play with 1:04 to play and then gave Tech the one-point lead at 59-58 late.

Moore led Tech with 20 points, six rebounds and three steals while Ty Moore added 15 points. Amber Metoyer added eight points and 10 boards.

Janevia Taylor was the lone Hawaii player in double figures with 10 points.

Tech returns to action Wednesday when it travel to Las Cruces to face New Mexico State.