SALISBURY, N.C. – In many ways it was a tale of two halves as Catawba rolled out to an early five-point lead and led at the half, but the LMU women's basketball team came out shooting in the third quarter and never looked back in their 72-59 South Atlantic Conference win over the Catawba Indians Saturday afternoon.

Rachel Griffith led LMU (8-6, 4-3 SAC) with 21 points, six assists and five steals on the day. Sydney Newsome had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Lindsay Proffitt, Dasia Maxwell, and Emily Griffith each contributed 10 points.

LMU held Catawba to only 30 percent shooting from the field and 29.6 percent from three-point range, while shooting 47.2 percent and 61.5 percent from those areas. Catawba was credited with 44 rebounds, while LMU had 35.

Back to back baskets by Catawba put the Indians ahead by five points early. The Lady Railsplitters would chip away at the lead, taking a 10-9 lead mid-way through the first period off a layup by Rachel Griffith. Over the remainder of the period and the majority of the second quarter the teams would trade baskets.

Catawba would grab a four-point lead late in the second quarter, but LMU rallied to tie the game at 29-29 with a basket from Kyndall Caudle. Catawba's Taisha DeShazo then hit a three pointer to put the Indians ahead 32-29, but LMU's Addi Kirkpatrick would take a pass from Maggie Jachimczuk and hit the driving layup to cut LMU's deficit to 32-31 at the half.

Both teams would miss their first shots of the third quarter before Newsome would hit a put-back jump shot after grabbing an offensive rebound. LMU then methodically built their lead to 43-36 and would never allow Catawba to get closer than four points for the rest of the stanza as the Lady Railsplitters would lead 51-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

LMU would open the final frame with a pair of three pointer by Jachimczuk and Newsome that opened up the lead to double digits. The Indians would cut the lead to 58-54 with 5:21 remaining in the game, but a Proffitt three-pointer sparked a 14-5 run to close out the game.

DeShazo led Catawba (8-5, 4-3 SAC) with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Mercedes Wampler had nine points and Talia Barnes had seven rebounds.

LMU will travel to SAC foe Mars Hill on Wednesday looking to extend their current win streak to three games and their winning streak over the Lions to seven games. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. from Stanford Arena.