Eastern capped off its regular season against Samford by doing all the little things correctly.

The Panthers took care of the ball, rebounded, defended and shot the ball well.

All of this translated to a 68-60 victory against Samford on Saturday night at Lantz Arena.

The win moved the Panthers (17-12, 15-5 Ohio Valley Conference) into a three-way tie for second in the OVC with Murray State and Samford. Eastern will be the fourth seed in the OVC Tournament because of the tiebreaker.

“It was two really, really good teams in the league battling it out with a lot of pride and going into tourney on a high note,” said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee. “I think they are extremely good, extremely hard to guard, and I think we’re pretty good too.”

Eastern limited Samford to 60 points, which is significant because the Bulldogs came off a big win on Thursday night when they defeated Southeast Missouri – the top team in the OVC – 73-50.

“We saw that and it was kind of like, alright, they made a big statement,” said Eastern junior forward Rachel Galligan. “We told ourselves we want to make a big statement back.”

The Bulldogs shot 52 percent in that game, but on Saturday night they were limited to 46 percent from the field.

Samford head coach Mike Morris said Eastern played tough, aggressive defense.

Eastern was also able to run both its motion and high-low offense effectively on Saturday night. The Panthers shot 50 percent from the field, and Galligan led the Panthers with 22 points.

Eastern sophomore guard Dominique Sims added 12 points, Eastern junior guard Ellen Canale scored 11, and Eastern sophomore forward Maggie Kloak chipped in 10 points.

Galligan, who normally scores within five feet of the basket, took an 11-foot off-balance leaning jump shot for Eastern’s last field goal of the game that put the Panthers up, 62-56, with 1 minute, 51 seconds remaining in the game.

“Galligan is the best post player in our league,” Morris said. “She has a lot of ability to create space (in the post).”

Galligan would emphasize Eastern’s defense on Samford’s next possession. Galligan took a charge from Samford’s red-shirt sophomore guard Monica Maxwell that left both players on the floor for a few moments with 1:28 remaining.

“You got to step and make a charge like she did,” Sallee said. “For our best player to do it, it says a lot about the character of our basketball team.”

Sallee said the play Galligan made is the type of play one would see by a Duke or Kentucky team.

“She’s beat up right now,” Sallee said. “She’s got the tar beat out of her all year and to step in and take that, and be willing to sacrifice for the basketball team is kind of a microcosm of how we’ve won 17 games this year.”

Sims said Galligan has been a key to Eastern’s success this season.

“She’s always willing to dish the ball, make the extra pass, and that makes a great player,” Sims said. “That separates a good player from a great player.”

Eastern also fed the ball into its other post player, Kloak, and she scored on an open layup with 6:25 remaining. She was fouled by Samford’s junior forward Chika Okoli and Kloak converted the free throw to extend Eastern’s lead, 54-46.

Kloak and Galligan combined for 32 points on Saturday night and 31 points on Thursday night against Jacksonville State.

Sallee said he planned to exploit Samford’s defense with Kloak and Galligan.

“We felt we could go with the big lineup,” Sallee said. “I didn’t want to burn (them) out, I thought we went to it at right time and its what pulled the game away and made it a little bit more comfortable.”

Morris was more pragmatic.

“(Galligan and Kloak) may be two of the top five post players in the league, and they play on the same team,” Morris said.

Okoli led the Bulldogs with 13 points and Maxwell added 11 points.

Eastern will host Tennessee State in the first round of the OVC Tournament at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Lantz Arena. It will be the first time Eastern has hosted an OVC Tournament first-round game.

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

Junior forward Rachel Galligan shoots over a Samford defender during Saturday night’s basketball game in Lantz Arena. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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