She caught at the top, shot clock running down and the defence desperately scrambling to stop her.
But she released the ball in rhythm and, as the ball fell through the net, the Hoiho took a 55-52 lead.
There was still over a minute to play, but it proved the winning basket.
The Hoiho held the Mid North Whai scoreless for the remainder of the game, while closing out the game at the line to win 60-52 at the Edgar Centre yesterday.
It was their first win of the season and first in franchise history, snapping a season-opening six-match losing streak.
"That shot was a deal break right there," Hoiho coach Natalie Visger said.
"[Gallaher] played really well. She kind of looked like the Sammy a lot of people know.
"That was good. Bronwyn [Kjestrup] had some good minutes, and Nicole [Ruske].
"I’m really proud of the way we finished. But the big thing was putting together 35-plus minutes of solid basketball. We did that.
"We talked about that would give us a chance to win, and I think that’s what happened."
Star swingman Laina Snyder once again proved pivotal for the Hoiho.
She had 21 points, finding ways to score in several key moments, while also hauling in eight rebounds, dishing four assists and nabbing four steals.
But it was the contributions across the board that got this one done.
Zoe Richards’ 12 points left her the only other player in the double figures, but it was the ability of several others to chip in with from five to seven points that was key.
Defensively the Hoiho was outstanding — as it has been for much of the season.
The held a dangerous Whai team — which was admittedly under-strength — to just 52 points.
While they have struggled to score well enough to capitalise on that strong defence for much of the season, they did so yesterday.
They trailed most of the game, although did enough to stick around and a 23-14 final quarter was the winning of the game.
Notably, they worked their way out of a first-quarter funk, in which the Hoiho went scoreless for a long period, as the Whai went on a 16-0 run.
"That first quarter was a lot of turnovers," Visger said.
"The second quarter was the right combinations. Just trusting each other a bit more on offence.
"You know they’re going to take away Laina. We drew a lot of direction from them, a lot of reads, a lot of back cuts, things we don’t usually do.
"That was nice for us to do that out of our sets."
Tori Dugan knocked down a three-pointer to open the game, before a three-point play from Snyder made it 6-2.
At that point, the Hoiho offence stalled, the Whai pulled back and jumped out to 12-6 on triples from Sharne Robati and Kyra Lambert.
That extended to 18-6, before Gallaher got to the line with 11 seconds left in the quarter, to break the dry spell.
The Hoiho began the second quarter with a long line-up, against which the Whai struggled to score.
They held the visiting side to just five second-quarter points, while closing the gap themselves.
Synder made it a five-point margin when she finished a three-point play with her left, before she finished on a layup shortly after to make it 23-19 at halftime.
The Hoiho took the lead not long after.
Dugan drilled a second three, before penetrating and finding Cheslek to draw within one.
Snyder hit a turnaround jumper the next time down to make it 26-25, giving the Hoiho the lead in the process.
The Whai took that back, but the Hoiho stuck around and a Snyder triple just before the break made it 38-37.
The Whai held that for half of the fourth quarter, before Snyder hit a pull-up to draw level and Zoe Richards followed with a mid-range jumper to give the Hoiho a 48-46 lead.
The Whai pulled back even, before Gallaher hit to make it 55-52, and Richards closed the game out at the line.
Tauihi Basketball
The scores
Hoiho 60
Laina Snyder 21, Zoe Richards 12
Whai 52
Sharne Robati 15, Sheniqua Greene 11
Quarter scores: 8-18, 19-23, 37-38.
