CHICO – It had been 10 days since the Chico State women's basketball team played its last game. After getting through finals week, the Wildcats got back into Acker Gym to get one last workout before going into the holiday break. Morgan Mathis scored a season-high 16 points as Chico State coasted to a 72-42 lead over the NAIA's Simpson Tuesday night.
 
Chico State improves to 6-4 overall while Simpson treated this game as an exhibition and stays at 5-6.
 
Mathis had an impressive performance, which included scoring 11 of her 16 points in the second half. It was by far the most posted scored by any Wildcat.
 
Makenzi Laporte had a double-double evening, scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds, Zhane Duckett had 11 points to round out the top scoring for Chico State.
 
Chico State hit 40 percent of its shots, including making a dozen from beyond the arc.
 
Simpson shot 28.8 percent from the field with Rachel Gafford scoring 15 points.
 
The Wildcats had led from start to finish. The game started off close as you would expect, but a 12-0 run by Chico State gave the 'Cats an 18-6 lead. The Wildcats went on to outscore the Red Hawks 24-11 after the first period.
 
Chico State took a 41-26 lead into the locker room but the start of the second half was a cold one. It wasn't until Mathis hit a 3-pointer with 6:01 left in the third quarter that either side got any kind of basket. Both sides finished scoring 11 points in the third period.
 
The fourth quarter was all Chico State, outscoring Simpson 20-5. The Wildcats went 7-of-18 in field goals.
 
As the NCAA mandatory break begins Wednesday, the Wildcats will go home for Christmas and will return to Acker Gym to play Cal Poly Humboldt on New Year's Eve. Tipoff is at 1 p.m.