Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Sports

Eastern senior forward Rachel Galligan will play her final regular season home game at 3 p.m. Saturday against Murray State. Galligan is currently the second all-time leading scorer in Eastern history. (Alycia Rockey/The Daily Eastern News)

Brady Sallee is the first person to admit he got lucky when the senior forward signed as the cornerstone of his first recruiting class.

"I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and, instantly, I saw this kid and said 'That's the answer to what we need to do,'" the fifth-year coach said. "I knew we had that anchor that we were going to be able to build our offense around."

With 1,731 points (and counting), the rest is history.

Rachel Galligan has been the center of attention for the Panthers from the moment she stepped on the court in 2005.

It took her three games to enter the starting lineup, and she never relinquished it. The list of accolades is long and impressive: Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, OVC All-Newcomer Team, First Team All-OVC (twice), OVC All-Tournament Team, and The Daily Eastern News Female Athlete of the Year.

With three regular season games and an unclear number of postseason games remaining (entering Thursday night), she is within reach of becoming Eastern's all-time leading scorer, a mere 76 points away.

But none of that would have been possible without a little luck.

Galligan nearly signed with Illinois-Chicago out of high school, and she was not even sure Eastern had a women's basketball program until Sallee recruited her. Her dad sent Sallee an e-mail asking if any scholarships were still open, and soon after she took an official visit before signing.

"Without (Galligan), I could be driving the bus right now," Sallee said jokingly.

For Galligan, like every other senior, the decision to pick Eastern was simple: To turn around a program and bring a winning tradition to the school, but the transition from high school to college basketball was not easy.

"Coming in from a high school program that was ranked No. 1 in the state, I wasn't used to losing," she said. "Those first two years, every victory was huge because every win we got seemed like a miracle. That was really tough."

The team was able to right the ship, turning a mediocre program that had won just 20 games total in Galligan's freshman and sophomore years into a team that has posted back-to-back 19-plus win seasons. For Galligan, that is more fulfilling than any record she could break.

"It's really exciting," she said. "These last two years, it seems, has brought the love and passion back to the game that was maybe missing in the community. Just seeing the development of all the support we've gotten has been the No. 1 thing I will not forget."

Even after everything Galligan has accomplished on the court, her teammates and coaches rave about her character off the court.

She's involved in the Student Athletes Committee on campus and, most recently, attended a student senate meeting with other team members to lobby for a "fan bus" for students to travel to Nashville, Tenn., to cheer on the Panthers in the OVC Tournament.

"(Galligan) is an outstanding player, talented all around on and off the court," senior guard Megan Edwards said. "She just has a sense of showing pride in this program and everywhere she goes, she's the name of the program and she represents it well."

Sallee is most impressed with Galligan's modesty.

"At the end of the day you look at the stats and she's been the best player on the floor, but she doesn't have to tell anybody about it," he said. "She just comes out and goes to work."

For Galligan, the future is unclear. She is graduating in spring with a degree in communication studies and public relations with a minor in advertising. But before entering the business world, she wants to continue her basketball career a little longer.

"If the opportunity presents itself and (Sallee) talks to the right people, I'm planning on going to play basketball overseas professionally," she said. "I've always wanted to travel the world, and that's a great way to do that."

But while Galligan will tip it up in Lantz Arena for the last time in the regular season Saturday afternoon, her legacy will live on.

"I can promise you that as long as I'm here, she will be remembered," Sallee said. "I don't think there's any reason why her jersey won't be hanging (in Lantz) very soon."


Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

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