How Ella Gallatin has become someone to ‘lean on’ for the Eastern Washington women

Last year, as Eastern Washington surged through the Big Sky Conference schedule and played only its second game in the NCAA Tournament, Ella Gallatin mostly watched games from the bench.

Gallatin played just 21 minutes in Big Sky games and another five at the end of Eastern’s 73-51 loss to Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament, mostly because the team relied so much on first-team all-conference guards Jamie Loera and Aaliyah Alexander.

“We had a pretty deep guard set last year, and so she was very capable,” EWU head coach Joddie Gleason said on Saturday. “She just had too many people in front of her.”

With those two – and many others from that program-best 29-win EWU women’s basketball team – off the roster, Gallatin is getting a chance to show during her junior season that she is indeed very capable.

Gallatin has started all 25 games. She leads the team in free-throw shooting and ranks third in scoring overall. And she has proven to be a steady presence for a young team that is peaking at the right time of the season.

“They’ve just instilled confidence in me being able to lead,” Gallatin said of Eastern’s coaching staff, which remains largely unchanged from last year. “It might be (leading) in points, but I am using my voice.”

Gallatin has done a little bit of everything for the Eagles this season while averaging 31.4 minutes per game, 24 more than she averaged during her freshman and sophomore seasons. Aside from her free-throw shooting (51 of 60), Gallatin doesn’t lead the team in any other categories. But teammates said her presence on the court is powerful.

“Just her amount of fight,” senior Alexis Pettis said of what Gallatin does well. “She’s always looking to make the right play, and at the most important time she does: Important rebounds, important 3s at the times we need it.

“She is a rock through all these games, someone you can really lean on.”

Even on Saturday, in Eastern’s 63-60 victory over Idaho, Gallatin played 35 minutes and had her least statistically notable game of the year. It’s the only game in which she hasn’t made a shot (0 for 3), and she scored just two points at the free-throw line and grabbed two rebounds.

But Gallatin also didn’t force shots when they really weren’t there for her.

“I don’t really care about my personal shots,” she said afterward. “If I can get a better shot for someone else, I am going to make that pass. My teammates were open in this game. I am open in some other games.”

She’s reached double digits in points 12 times this season, topping out at 23 in a Jan. 11 victory over Sacramento State. She made 6 of 11 shots that game and all seven free throws she attempted.

Through 13 conference games, Gallatin has played all but 53 possible minutes, and her average of 35.9 per game in Big Sky games ranks third in the entire league. Only Sac State players Benthe Versteeg (37.8) and Lina Falk (36.5) are averaging more.

Gleason said that during the offseason she told Gallatin and Pettis, the two most veteran returners, that this was their team and the time had come for them to take over leadership.

“I just love the way they’ve responded,” Gleason said.

Pettis came off the bench for the first 10 games of the season as coaches opted to use her as a spark off the bench. Over that stretch she averaged 7.5 points per game.

But injuries thrust her into the starting lineup, and with increased minutes her production has increased as well, especially recently. In four of her last five games, Pettis has scored in double digits.

Eastern, too, is hitting its stride at the right time. Since a four-game losing streak over an eight-day stretch in January, the Eagles have won four of five games and are now fifth in the Big Sky standings.

Eastern (10-15, 6-7 Big Sky) will play three of its final five regular season games at home, starting this week against Northern Colorado (12-13, 5-9) on Thursday and Northern Arizona (21-6, 12-2) on Saturday.

Beating the seventh-place Bears on Thursday would give the Eagles a two-game cushion (or more) over the teams ranked seventh through 10th, and if they can stay in that middle group the Eagles would avoid playing on the first two days of the Big Sky Tournament next month in Boise.

From the beginning, this was going to be a different type of season for the Eagles, who are notably younger, starting two freshmen, than in any of the previous three seasons with Gleason as head coach.

But that process seems to have brought the team to a point where they are playing their best basketball with one month left in the season, and Gallatin’s play – and patience – is a key reason why it’s worked out so well.

“I think there’s a lot of value in loyalty and sticking with the process,” Gallatin said. “Obviously playing different roles is part of basketball, but staying where you are is huge, and it helps build team chemistry.”