She caught at the top, the shot clock ticked down and the defense scrambled desperately to stop her.
But she let go of the ball rhythm and when the ball fell through the net, de Hoiho took a 55-52 lead.
There was more than a minute to play, but it turned out to be the winning basket.
The Hoiho held the Mid North Whai scoreless for the remainder of the game, as they closed the game on the line yesterday to win 60-52 at the Edgar Center.
It was their first win of the season and the first in franchise history, losing a six-game opening season.
“That shot was a deal breaker there,” said Hoiho coach Natalie Visger.
“[Gallaher] really well played. She was a bit like the Sammy that many people know.
“That was good. Bronwyn [Kjestrup] had a good few minutes, and Nicole [Ruske].
“I’m really proud of the way we finished. But the most important thing was putting together over 35 minutes of solid basketball. We did that.
“We talked about this giving us a chance to win, and I think that’s what happened.”
Star swingman Laina Snyder again proved crucial for the Hoiho.
She had 21 points, found ways to score at several key moments, while also bringing in eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.
But it was contributions across the board that made this happen.
With Zoe Richards’ 12 points, she was the only other player in double digits, but it was the ability of a number of others to score between five and seven points.
Defensively, the Hoiho was excellent, like most of the season.
It kept a dangerous Whai team – admittedly too weak – to just 52 points.
While they struggled to score well enough for most of the season to take advantage of that strong defense, they did yesterday.
They trailed for most of the game, though they did enough to stay, and a final quarter of 23-14 was the win of the game.
Notably, they worked their way out of a funk in the first quarter, with the Hoiho going winless for a long time, while the Whai went on a 16-0 run.
“That first quarter was a lot of turnover,” says Visger.
“The second quarter were the right combinations. Just trust each other a little more in the attack.
“You know they’re going to take Laina away. We took a lot of direction from them, a lot of reading, a lot of back-cuts, things we don’t normally do.
“That was nice for us to do that out of our sets.”
Tori Dugan hit a three-pointer to open the game, before a three-point play from Snyder made it 6-2.
At that point, Hoiho’s attack faltered, the Whai retreated and jumped to 12-6 on triples from Sharne Robati and Kyra Lambert.
That expanded to 18-6, before Gallaher crossed the line with 11 seconds left in the quarter to break the dry spell.
The Hoiho started the second quarter with a long line-up, against which the Whai struggled to score.
They kept the visiting side just five points in the second quarter, closing the gap themselves.
Synder made it a five-point margin as she finished a three-point game with the left, before finishing on a layup shortly after to make it 23-19 at halftime.
Not long after, the Hoiho took the lead.
Dugan drilled a second three, before penetrating and finding Cheslek to draw within one.
Snyder hit a turnaround jumper the next time to make it 26-25, giving the Hoiho the lead in the process.
The Whai took that back, but the Hoiho lingered and a Snyder triple just before halftime made it 38-37.
The Whai held that for half of the fourth quarter, before Snyder pulled up to tie and Zoe Richards followed with a mid-range jumper to give the Hoiho a 48-46 lead.
The Whai even withdrew before Gallaher made it 55-52, with Richards closing the game on the line.
Basketball Tournament
the scores
60 horses
Laina Snyder 21, Zoe Richards 12
Follow 52
Sharne Robati 15, Sheniqua Greene 11
Quarterly Scores: 8-18, 19-23, 37-38.