BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With only nine available players, EKU women's basketball overcomes a 12-point deficit behind two 20-point performances from Alice Recanati and Raphaela Toussaint to beat Samford 81-66 on Sunday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the win, EKU (10-3) concludes its non-conference slate with double-digit wins for the second consecutive season and extended its winning streak to nine straight – the program's longest since 2005.
 
Recanati led all scorers with a season-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and a perfect 7-for-7 clip from the free throw line.  The Italian padded her stat line with eight rebounds, four assists, and was the seventh game in her career over 20 points.
 
Additionally, Toussaint had a season-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, marking the 52nd game in her career in double figure scoring and fifth career game with 20 or more points. 
 
Senior guard Althea Kara Angeles had 12 points while senior forward Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor had 10 points and five rebounds in just 12 minutes due to foul trouble.  Freshman forward Kailani Lindsey had a career-high 12 rebounds and neared a double-double with eight points.
 
EKU played with just nine scholarship student-athletes in Sunday's win and used just two players on its bench in reserve.  The Colonels ended their win over Samford shooting 49 percent from the floor, went 16-for-20 from the charity stripe, and had 40 rebounds for the seventh time this season. 
 
At the half, Samford (4-11) led the Colonels 43-38 while shooting 58.1 percent from the floor with five made threes and 22 points scored in the paint.  
 
The Colonels flipped the script out of the break overcoming its foul problems and shooting deficit to outscore the Bulldogs 25-19 in the third period.  Toussaint had a streak of scoring nine-straight points off four possessions and Liz Freihofer had a layup to give EKU a 63-62 lead heading into the fourth.
 
EKU held Samford to just four points in the final period of play while the Colonels scored 18 points off multiple scoring possessions from Angeles, McGinnis-Taylor, and six made free throws by Recanati.
 
Samford's Kennedy Langham and Annie Ramil logged team-leading 13-point performances while 6-foot-5 forward Emily Bowman grabbed seven rebounds.
 
The Colonels will shift their sights to Atlantic Sun Conference play in the new year opening the slate with three consecutive games on the road, beginning with long-time rival Austin Peay on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. ET.  The game can be streamed live on ESPN+ or heard over the air on 92.5 WEKY.