Ashley Thomas and Ellen Canale played through their injuries on Saturday night.

Thomas received a knee to the thigh against TSU. She finished with four points, five rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.

“She wasn’t 100 percent,” said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee.

Thomas also had a wrap around her right hand for the TTU game, but Sallee said it was just a bruise.

Canale, a junior guard, rolled her left ankle on Jan. 12 against Eastern Kentucky at Lantz Arena.

Canale was driving to the basket when an EKU defender stepped in front of her with 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining in the first half. Canale left the game but did return to the bench to cheer on her teammates. She missed Eastern’s game at Tennessee Tech on Jan. 17.

Canale led Eastern’s reserves in minutes (20) on Saturday against Tennessee State. Canale jumped up for a long rainbow pass and landed awkwardly on her left foot against the Tigers. She fell down, but still got up to play. The Canton, Mich., native finished with two points, five rebounds and two assists.

“She had to guard a little bit different,” Sallee said.

Canale, who usually guards the other team’s point guard, backed off.

“She’s a great player,” said Eastern sophomore red-shirt guard Megan Edwards. “I’m sure it was tough for her.”

Panthers can set new mark with win

This is the first time Eastern has swept TTU and TSU on the road in Sallee’s fourth year at Eastern. The win also marks the same amount of wins Eastern had last year with 10 regular season games remaining.

If the Panthers (10-9, 9-2 Ohio Valley Conference) can beat Morehead State on Saturday night, they will finish with more than 10 wins. Eastern finished with 10 wins in the past three seasons.

It will be the most wins since 1997-98, when the Panthers finished 12-15. If the Panthers win Saturday, it will also be the most OVC wins since 1997-98, when the team finished 10-8 in the league.

The nine league wins this season tie a mark set in the 2005-06 season when the Panthers finished 9-11 in the conference. The Panthers have never finished with more than 10 wins in the OVC.

Galligan earns OVC honor

Eastern junior forward Rachel Galligan earned her second OVC Player of the Week this season.

It is the second honor in a row for the Bloomington native. Galligan and Murray State’s Ashley Hayes are the only two to earn consecutive awards this season.

Galligan finished with 48 points in two games last week and finished 20-of-21 from the free throw line. Galligan finished with a career-high five steals and a season-high five blocks against TSU.

Free throw shooting near the top

The Panthers are consistent at the free throw line, as well.

Eastern was ranked fifth in the country in free throw percentage at the beginning of the week.

The Panthers have made 79.2 percent of their free throws (357-451) this season.

Fellow OVC opponents, Murray State is third (81.9 percent), Tennessee-Martin is 19th and Eastern Kentucky is 49th.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.

Sophomore guard Ashley Thomas tries to go up to the basket against an Eastern Kentucky defender in the Panther’s January match up against the Colonels at Lantz arena. (Robbie Wrobleski

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