In bitterly cold conditions, the Spirit dominated possession and territory for long periods of the game.
However, poor decision-making and far too many handling errors stopped it from cashing in on endless chances.
Down 15-10 inside the last 10 minutes, Otago had at least five opportunities inside the Waikato 22m to win the game or snatch a draw, but Waikato rebuffed a seemingly endless assault on its line, before the match fittingly ended with a knock-on.
''I'm pretty disappointed,'' Spirit coach John Hyde said.
''We had the opportunity to win that but we didn't take it . . . maybe there was a couple of wrong decisions in regards to our field position.
''There was one time where we went for the long pass but the ball through the hands would have done the job. It's bloody disappointing, to be fair.''
Playing into a howling southerly in the first half, the Spirit struggled for field position but tackled well and smashed Waikato at scrum time.
The Mooloo women finally opened the scoring with a Chelsea Alley penalty goal after half an hour.
The 3-0 deficit sparked the Spirit into action. Finally it managed to string some phases together and some front-foot ball saw Michaela Baker crash over out wide with time up in the first half.
Otago quickly turned a 5-3 halftime lead into a 10-3 lead when outstanding No 8 Angie Sisifa went through a gaping hole out wide after a sustained passage of play inside the Waikato 22m.
The visiting side hit back immediately. Otago first five Victoria Subritzsky-Nafatali overcooked a clearing kick to gift Waikato an attacking lineout 22m out.
Moments later, Stacey Waaka waltzed through a couple of soft tackles to score under the sticks and knot the game up.
Waikato went ahead for good with about 10 minutes left after a rare mishap from an Otago scrum feed, when the ball fortuitously popped out and was hacked downfield, before it was pounced on by halfback Patricia Garcia.
Despite a second straight loss at home, the performance was not all doom and gloom for Hyde.
''I thought our scrum was really strong - we dealt to them in that area. We were really good at the breakdown, as well.
''We recycled a lot a lot of ball but we just didn't finish off in some areas. At the end of the day, that was the difference.''
The Spirit is fourth in the competition with an away game against Auckland this weekend and a home game against Manawatu next weekend.
Otago must beat Auckland to have a chance of finishing in the top two and qualifying for the final.
By Robert van Royen.
Women's championship
The scores
Waikato 15
Patricia Garcia, Stacey Waaka tries; Chelsea Alley con, pen
Otago 10
Angie Sisifa, Michaela Baker tries
Halftime: Otago 5-3.
