LAS VEGAS—The Chico State women's basketball team knew it would have to bring its A-game to Las Vegas Wednesday night, taking on a UNLV Lady Rebels squad that featured four of its starters from last season's Mountain West championship team. Instead, the Wildcats stumbled out of the gate, and some cold shooting by the 'Cats in the opening period was all UNLV needed to pull away early in the contest, and roll to a 114-53 exhibition win at Cox Pavilion.
Jordan Morris led the Wildcats with 12 points—all in the first half—with Brandy Huffhines and Bailey Jones delivering seven and five points, respectively. Myli Martinez, Haley Ison, Stella Rollo, Zhane Duckett, and Makenzi Laporte each added four points to the 'Cats' attack. Morris also topped the 'Cats with eight rebounds and two steals.
Though UNLV was seeing its first action of the fall, the Lady Rebels showed no rust at all in the first quarter, shooting 76 percent from the field and connecting on four of six 3-pointers. UNLV scored the game's first seven points, then after a Huffhines jumper put Chico State on the board, the Rebels went on a 20-0 run to balloon its advantage to 27-2. Morris hit a pair of mid-range jumpers and ended the period with a pair of free throws, with UNLV holding a 38-8 lead.
The 'Cats' offense started to heat up in the second period, hitting eight of 16 from the field. Huffhines hit Chico State's first 3-pointer of the night, Morris contributed three baskets, Martinez registered a pair of buckets, and Laporte, Duckett, Jones, and Rollo all broke into the scoring column. Unfortunately, the Wildcats kept losing ground to the hot-shooting Rebels, which built a 45-point lead late in the period, and went into halftime with a 71-28 advantage.
Chico State and UNLV played pretty much straight up for the first few minutes of the third quarter, but after Huffhines hit a jumper to make the score 73-32, the Wildcats' offense went silent. A Morgan Mathis 3-pointer and a Duckett jumper at the buzzer were the only Chico State points for the rest of the period, and the Rebels ended the quarter sporting a commanding 96-37 lead.
The Wildcats finished the fourth quarter strong, outscoring UNLV 14-5 over the final five minutes of the contest. Jones started the run with a 3-pointer, Ison and Sophia Williams buried jumpers, and Rollo, Williams, Jazmyne Lillie, and Jiana Creswell hit free throws to wrap up the contest, with the Rebels claiming the 114-53 victory.
The Wildcats officially begin the 2022–23 season Friday, November 11 at 5:30 p.m. when they face Fresno Pacific in the first game of the two-day CCAA/PacWest Tipoff Challenge in San Rafael. Chico State will take on host school Dominican during the tournament's second day of action Saturday, November 12 at 7 p.m.
