MERCED, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's basketball team finished California Pacific Conference play undefeated for the second time in program history and tied their longest winning streak ever after a 71-52 win over Simpson University on Monday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.

The Bobcats (16-7, 10-0) are the first Cal Pac team to go 10-0 since Menlo College accomplished that feat in the 2014-15 campaign. The Bobcats went 8-0 in their first perfect season (2015-16).

The Bobcats current ten-game winning streak ties their original record set from December 1, 2018 to January 10, 2019.

UC Merced will now prepare for the California Pacific Conference Championships scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 27 in Vallejo, Calif. A first round bye will put the Bobcats back in action on February 28.

Monday night's regular season finale was also Senior Night, where six Bobcats were honored in a pregame ceremony.

One of those six seniors, Mikayla Mabie, led all scorers with 19 points on 50% (8-16) shooting. It marked her third straight game scoring at least 18 points. She also had three assists, including her first assist midway through the first quarter that put her over the century mark this season. Mabie becomes the fourth player in program history to dish out at least 100 assists in a campaign. 

Rainah Smith tallied her third double-double of the season and the eleventh in her career with 14 points and eleven rebounds. The senior shot 71% (5-7) and her scoring output pushed her ahead of Aubrey Hayes for seventh in program history with 757 career points. Smith added four assists and a pair of steals to her Monday night victory.

Damilola Sule was good for ten points on an 83% (5-6) shooting mark. Sule has finished in double figures while shooting at least 50% in five of the last six games.

Madison Hotchkiss added nine points off the bench with a trio of three-point field goals.

Cierra McClain was good for seven points and five assists. 

Haylee Owen led all players with three steals. Hotchkiss and Marisse Jackson had two steals each.

The Bobcats led wire-to-wire for the second game in a row. Head coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery's team scored the game's first six points and used a suffocating defensive effort to limit Simpson to just one basket over the first seven minutes which culminated in a 12-2 advantage. The Bobcats led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Up 20-10 in the second quarter, a Hotchkiss triple sparked a run to extend the lead to 17 points at 31-14. The lead was cut down to eleven in the minutes leading up to intermission, but Jackson grabbed a miss and put it right back up to carry a 34-21 lead into the locker room.

Simpson scored the first seven points of the second half to make it a two-possession game at 34-28. The Bobcats went to Sule for an answer and she responded with a pair of baskets to stave off any further Simpson comeback. Soon after, Mabie finished a strong drive inside to put the Bobcats back up by double figures for the rest of the night.

The Bobcats led by 16 points early in the fourth quarter and pushed it to 19 points midway through the period after a couple foul shots from Owen. A Hotchkiss triple followed to make it 65-43. The Bobcats biggest lead of the night was 23 points, 69-46 with 70 seconds remaining.

The Bobcats finished the night shooting 43% (26-60) from the field and a program-record 94% (15-16) from the charity stripe. 

UC Merced held Simpson to 36% shooting and forced 23 turnovers.

UC Merced now has a five-game winning streak over Simpson which marks the longest in program history. The previous best was four straight wins between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 season.

The California Pacific Conference will announce the postseason seeding on Tuesday, February 22 at 12:00pm. UC Merced will play a postseason game for the seventh consecutive season on Monday, February 28 in Vallejo, Calif., on the campus of Cal Maritime.