RUSTON, La. - Idaho's women's basketball team has never beaten Louisiana Tech, and on Saturday, the Vandal women saw their best chance to date slip away in the closing seconds as they fell in overtime by a 74-71 score.

Idaho (4-16, 2-6 Western Athletic Conference) answered Louisiana Tech's (13-6, 4-3 WAC) attempts to put the game away early on, then hung around long enough to take a late lead, but couldn't close the deal.

"I really felt like it was our guttiest effort of the year," Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. "To come out here with a big crowd and have a great chance to win a basketball game against a team that I think, physically, has the most talent in the conference."

Idaho held a six-point lead with less than a minute remaining, but crucial turnovers on the offensive end led to clutch 3-pointers by the Lady Techsters and LTU held on in the extra period to survive with the win. The game featured 10 lead changes and four ties - all of which came after the half.

The undersized Vandals actually out-rebounded Louisiana Tech by a 41-37 margin, including limiting the Lady Techsters to just four offensive rebounds and no second-chance points. Louisiana Tech outscored Idaho 40-12 in the paint, but the Vandals neutralized that advantage by outscoring LTU 30-9 from 3-point range and putting in 11 second-chance points.

"I think this was probably our best effort at defensive rebounding for the year," Newlee said. "If we have that kind of effort on the boards against other teams this year, we're going to win a lot of games in the second half of the WAC season."

Junior Yinka Olorunnife led Idaho with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting, along with nine rebounds, while juniors Shaena Kuehu and Rachele Kloke contributed 16 points each. Kuehu also grabbed nine rebounds, while Kloke had eight. Freshman Kanisha Bello made her first career start and scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

Idaho hit 35.7 percent of its shots and 31.3 percent of its 3-pointers, while going 73.3 percent from the free throw line. The Vandals turned 19 Louisiana Tech turnovers into 19 points, while LTU had 15 points off 18 Idaho turnovers.

Senior Shanavia Dowdell, the WAC's leading scorer, led Louisiana Tech with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while three other Lady Techsters had double-digit points. LTU shot 52.8 percent from the floor, but just 53.6 percent from the free throw line.

The game was a see-saw affair from the very start, as each team responded to the other's runs. Idaho trailed the entire first half, but never let the Lady Techsters pull away too far. Kuehu opened the second half by nailing a 3-pointer, and that set the stage for the rest of the half.

Idaho used an 11-4 run five minutes into the period to take a six-point lead, but the Techsters worked their way right back and took a lead of their own at 48-43 with 8:24 to go. Idaho's answer was a 10-4 run to take the lead again with 3:54 to go.

The Vandals had crucial opportunities to seal the game with just under two minutes to go. Leading by two points, Idaho rebounded LTU misses on three straight possessions, but turned the ball over every time. Idaho was able to extend its lead to six points on free throws, but the Lady Techsters nailed back-to-back 3-pointers on their next two possessions, the second of which came with nine seconds to go.

"We did not make very good decisions with the basketball down that stretch," Newlee said. "That was probably the most disappointing thing, because we could have put this thing away, but we didn't do a great job of handling the pressure."

After losing three consecutive close games by a combined 10 points, Idaho's women will now return home for a Wednesday game against Nevada on Feb. 3 at the Cowan Spectrum.

"I'm proud of the way we battled. That's something we're really learning how to do as the season goes along," Newlee said. "We've got a chance to win every game. Sooner or later, we're going to put a streak together where we bust through and win the close ones.

"We're still looking to see who's going to get the big shot and who's going to handle the pressure, but it's a learning process, and the way you learn about playing close games is by being in them."