EUGENE, Ore. – The North Dakota State women's basketball team fell short against Oregon, 96-57, in front of 2,703 fans in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) at Matthew Knight Arena on Friday night.

NDSU finishes the season winning its most games in a single season since 2004-05 with an 18-12 overall record. The Bison also made their first appearance in the WNIT in program history. Oregon improves to 18-14 and will advance to the second round and host Rice on Monday night.

Heaven Hamling paced the Bison with a team-high 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field. She also hauled in a team-best six rebounds with three assists. Elle Evans finished the season hitting double figures in scoring in 14 straight games with 15 points to go along with five rebounds.

Taylor Brown, who played her 125th career game, netted 10 points with two assists and two rebounds. Abby Schulte rounded out the top performers reaching the 100-assist mark this season with a career-high 103 after passing out a team-high seven and chipped in four points.

As a team, NDSU shot 35.4 percent (23-65) from the field and 27.8 percent (5-18) from three. The Bison also hauled in 29 rebounds and passed out 14 assists.

Both teams battled through a fast-paced opening quarter as Oregon jumped out to a 12-5 lead by the 4:34 mark. The Bison then put together a 6-2 run with triples from Evans and Katie Hildebrandt to pull within three, 14-11, with 2:42 to play in the quarter. The Ducks led after the first quarter of play, 19-15.

Oregon then erupted in the second frame outscoring NDSU, 22-7. The Ducks strung together a momentum shifting 16-0 run to stretch their edge to 39-19 lead with 1:30 to play in the half and led at the intermission, 41-22.  The Bison weren't able to cut the deficit down any further in the second half and went on to drop the contest, 96-57.