Rhode Island Starters
Cairns, Squires, Toure, Hattix-Covington, Lassiter

Samford Starters
Redmond, Cournoyer, Tarpley, Wheeler, Ngulefac

How it Happened
Rhode Island won its fifth straight game behind the frontcourt duo of Emma Squires and Mayé Touré, defeating Samford 75-53 Sunday to leave the UCF Thanksgiving Classic with a pair of victories.
 
Squires and Touré combined for 26 points and URI got scoring from nine different players en route to the victory. Rhody (5-1) came back from a six-point halftime deficit to hand Samford (3-5) the loss.

Both teams opened with strong offense, as Samford led 21-20 after one quarter. Shooting 50.0 percent from the floor (8-for-16), the Crimson Bulldogs were led by Sanaa Redmond's eight points and six from Emiy Bowman. Samford did damage in transition, scoring nine points off six Rhody turnovers. URI shot 46.7 percent (7-for-15), as Dolly Cairns and Sayawni Lassiter each scored five, while Madison Hattix-Covington and Anaelle Dutat each added four points.

The even play continued for most of the second quarter before URI went scoreless over the final 2:20. The Rams made just one of their final seven shots of the half, allowing Samford to close on a 10-run and take a 40-34 lead into halftime.

The Rams came out on fire to start the third quarter, opening on a 10-0 run that was spurred by Mayé Touré and Emma Squires each scoring four points. Rhody forced four turnovers in the opening minutes of the quarter, which led to six of the 10 points in the spurt. Rhody controlled play throughout the quarter, limited Samford to seven points as the Rams carried a 51-47 lead into the final 10 minutes.

With the score tied 55-55, Rhode Island went on a 8-0 run to establish the biggest lead of the game, 63-55. Lassiter hit a pull-up jumper and Sophie Phillips followed with a 3-pointer before Ines Debroise hit a layup off a turnover. She was fouled and added the free throw to cap the run. Samford stemmed the bleeding with a Sussy Ngulefac backet in the paint, but Phillips followed with her third triple of the game to make the score 66-57 for the Rams.

From there, Rhody was content to trade baskets with Samford. URI's lead never got below six points the rest of the way as Samford missed its final five shots from the field.

Inside the Box Score

• Junior Mayé Touré had 14 points and four rebounds.
• Graduate transfer Emma Squires scored 12 points and had five rebounds. It was her fourth game scoring in double figures.
• Junior Dolly Cairns and sophomore Sophie Phillips added 10 points each, as Rhody had four players in double digits.
• Phillips made three 3-point baskets, while Cairns added two.
• Graduate transfer Sayawni Lassiter scored nine points and had four steals.
• Freshman Ines Debroise gave the team six points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench, while Anaelle Dutat had four points and seven boards.
• Rhode Island scored 20 points off 22 Samford turnovers.
• That helped the Rams have a 13-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
• Rhody had 15 second-chance points off of 13 offensive rebounds.

Up Next
The Rams are back in action Thursday, Dec. 1 when they host Buffalo at 6:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast to the Varsity Network with Zach Austin on the call and streamed on ESPN+.