Box Score NEW ORLEANS – The fifth-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team escaped The Castle with a 57-56 win over Southern-New Orleans (La.) on Thursday night in the first road game of the season.

Westminster improves to 3-1 on the season with their third consecutive victory. The loss drops Southern to 1-1 on the year.

Cydney Tibbitts led the Griffins with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Tibbitts bolstered her scoring line by going 9-for-10 at the foul line while grabbing seven rebounds (four offensive) and giving out two assists. Allie Eastman finished with nine points with Kelsi Wells adding eight. Nicole Yazzie had four points and seven assists and Tia Pappas grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.

Westminster shot 41.7 percent from the floor and went just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc. They posted a 43-31 edge in rebounds and had 12 offensive rebounds. They held Southern to 35 percent shooting and just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.

April Perry led Southern with 24 points and Rose Boatner added 11. Southern forced 21 Griffin turnovers.

After falling behind 15-10 midway through the first half, Westminster put together a 20-9 run to end the half and take a  30-24 lead into the halftime intermission. The Griffins would hold an 11-point advantage with 4:21 to play before Southern starting chipping away.

Perry would make two free throws with 35 second to play to get Southern within one, but Brooke Larsen would collect a Perry miss with five seconds left to seal the Griffins victory.

Westminster will complete the trip to New Orleans on Saturday at 11 a.m. when they face Xavier (La.).