If there is such a thing as a signature win, the Eastern women’s basketball team may have earned one Saturday night.

Coming off a disheartening 82-72 loss to Jacksonville State on Thursday night, the Panthers were desperate for a spark. They found one in freshman center Rachel Galligan, who poured in 16 points and helped Eastern to a 67-56 victory over Samford in Birmingham, Ala.

In the previous two games against Morehead State and JSU, Galligan played a combined 32 minutes while picking up early foul trouble. In Saturday’s win, Galligan helped control reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Alex Munday.

“The whole game plan was to get the ball to Rachel,” Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said. “We called her number and she stepped up to the challenge.”

The Panthers (10-12, 9-5 OVC) knew they would be facing a different team in Samford than in JSU. The Bulldogs (15-7, 10-5) run a Princeton-style offense with an emphasis on the backdoor cuts and screens.

In the first half the Panthers relied on their defense as they held Samford to 34 percent shooting in taking a 30-23 halftime lead. The Bulldogs shot 38 percent for the game.

“That was huge,” Sallee said. “It gave us our confidence that we were lacking after Thursday’s game.”

After Munday had buried two free throws to cut the Panther lead to 40-39 with 12 minutes, 35 seconds left, Eastern responded with an 18-5 run to push Eastern’s lead to 58-44.

During that stretch, it was Galligan who was controlling the rebounds and helping the Panthers shut down Munday, who came into the game averaging 16.1 points per game.

Galligan held Munday to five points on 1-of-11 shooting.

“That’s only a small preview of what’s to come from a defensive standpoint for Rachel,” Sallee said. “When she’s in the game, teams tend to stay out of the paint and work from the perimeter.”

That might have been bad news for the Panthers as Samford leads the OVC in three-point shooting percentage.

The Bulldogs struggled from the three-point line as they went 5-for-17. Once the Panthers built a big lead, Sallee figured it would be hard for Samford to comeback with its slow-paced offense.

“We really had a good practice on Friday,” Sallee said. “We reset our mindset to playing defense. Before that, I think we were too selfish with offensive goals and not focused on defense.”

The Panthers won the rebounding battle for the second consecutive game as they limited second opportunities for the Bulldogs.

“We’re starting to make our lives easier,” Sallee said of his team starting to rebound at a more consistent basis. “We’re getting tough.”

Senior guard Megan Sparks rebounded from a 5-for-19 shooting performance on Friday night to score a game-high 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting.

With the win, the Panthers moved a half-game out of third place in the OVC.