Ducks get easy victory over Nevada Thanks to Friday's attendance, Oregon will host its game ■ against Colorado State By Joel Hood Oregon Daily Emerald It wasn’t overly impressive, but Jody Range got exactly what she wanted from the Oregon women’s basketball team Friday night — an easy 81-54 victory against Nevada in the first round of the women’s National Invita tion Tournament, a tighter defen sive performance than its exhibi tion win over Alvik last week, and an invite to host round two tonight against Colorado State at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court. “I think we still have a lot of work to do defensively,” Runge said after the game. “We didn’t handle their aggressiveness very well. If we expect to have a chance to win this tournament, we’re going to have to play a lot better.” Ahead just 33-20 at halftime, the Ducks broke free of the Wolf pack early in the second half when center Angelina Wolvert hit a 17-foot jump shot and guard Lisa Bowyer connected from three-point range to increase Ore gon’s lead to 40-24. Seconds later, forward Brianne Meharry scored inside following a steal and pass from Bowyer to increase the Ducks’ lead to 20 points. “We managed to get a few more steals after halftime by pushing them outside the paint,” said Bowyer, who had a team high six steals and five assists. r “The defense has to bring along the offense if we’re going to con tinue winning.” Oregon next hosts Colorado State, which beat Valparaiso 94 71 in its first-round game on Fri day. The Rams tied a school record for three pointers made in their victory over the Cru saders with 12. Four Rams scored in double digits, led by Jacque John son s game high 23 points. Guard Becky Hammon, a preseason all American for Colorado State, added 20 three assists. Col 24-6 last points and orado State finished season and tied for first in the Western Athletic Conference with an 11-3 record. Runge said she knows Oregon will have to play with more con trol on offense to have a shot to knock off Colorado State tonight. “I'm happy with our effort,” Runge said, “but I feel like we’re going to have to play better against Colorado State.” Sonja Curtis, who sat out the Ducks' exhibition game against Alvik of Sweden on Nov. 3 while recovering from a broken nose sustained during practice, led Oregon with 20 points in 24 min utes on Friday. Meharry was sec ond on the team with 17 points and collected a team-high eight rebounds. Center Jenny Mowe, who Runge said is still slightly ham pered by the season-ending knee injury she sustained last year, I think we still have a lot of work to do defensively. We didn’t handle their aggressiveness very well. If we expect to have a chance to win this tournament, we’re going to have to play a lot better. ^ Jody Runge UO head coach didn’t start and played just 17 minutes. Mowe, a Pacific-10 All-Fresh man team honoree in 1996, scored just two points and had two blocks and five rebounds. “Jenny is OK, but she’s not the same player that toured with the junior national team after her freshman year," Runge said. “But her knee doesn’t allow her a lot of reps defensively. She played OK, but she seemed to be out of position a lot." McArthur Court's attendance of 3,942 on Friday enabled the Ducks to host their second-round game against Colorado State. The schools with the highest attendance figures will likely host the tournament's semi-final round on Thursday and the final round on Friday. Although regular-season tick ets are free, students will have to purchase tickets for each round of the WNIT the Ducks’ host for $5. Matt Hankins'Emerald Ducks' center Jenny Mowe breaks through the Wolfpack's guard Jessica Larsen and forward Kate Graham to score in Friday's win of 81 to 54 at McArthur Court. Still Looking for that Last Perfect Class? Are you looking for a little flexibility in your course schedule? The Distance Education Program at the Continuation Center has room available in classes for Winter. Look in the Schedule of Classes under "Distance Education," for information and then register through Duck Call. E-mail and Web access are required. Course procedures and fees vary. Details and links are available at http://de.uoregon.edu/ Web-based Computer-based instruction, readings in a textbook, homework via e-mail, exams in the SSIL labs. Must attend a 1 hour orientation in 72 PLC during the first two weeks of classes. EC 201: Introduction to Microeconomics EC 202: Introduction to Macroeconomics LING 150: Structure of English Words PS 201: United States Politics PS 204: Introduction to Comparative Politics Traditional Independent readings in a textbook, e-mail correspondence with the instructor, handwritten exams, and an assignment on current events as they relate to your course topic. GEOL 303: Geology of National Parks GEOL 306: Volcanoes and Earthquakes GEOL 308: Oregon and the Pacific Northwest University of Oregon A Distance Sandra Gladney Program Coordinator 346-0696