STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern women's basketball team welcomes in SEC foe Alabama for a Sunday 2 p.m. matinee contest at Hanner Fieldhouse. Watch | Live Stats

The Eagles (1-2) are coming off of a 72-45 loss at Mercer on Tuesday, and face another team that played in the postseason in the Crimson Tide (3-0), who advanced to the WNIT Quarterfinals a year ago. Alabama returns all five starters from last season's squad and have been impressive in downing its first three opponents of the season, beating Alabama A&M (90-32), Utah (65-60) and Jacksonville (75-60).

This will be the first SEC opponent to face the Eagles in Hanner Fieldhouse since 2011, and Alabama's first trip back to Statesboro since 2010. In all, six SEC foes have played Georgia Southern women's basketball in Hanner in school history.

"When Toby [Wagoner, GS assistant coach] came to me and said Alabama wants to play, they gave us two options," Head Coach Kip Drown said. "Do we want to go over there and just play and get a guarantee, or do we want to play a home and home? My immediate answer was home and home. It's hard to get a Power-Five team to come in here and play. Just ask our men, it's a really tough thing to do.

"We're excited to get a team of that quality to come into Hanner and let our fans get to see an SEC team here," Coach Drown said. "It's a great challenge for us, and nothing but a growth opportunity. We will see where we are at, and games like this really prepare us for the Sun Belt. I hope we'll have a good crowd come out on Sunday afternoon and watch it. They're going to see a very good team who won a few games in the WNIT last year, that brings everyone back. It will be a good test."

Georgia Southern committed 24 turnovers in the loss to Mercer on Thursday, but one bright spot was a defense that held the Bears to an eight-minute scoreless stretch between the second and third quarters. The three-point shooting also got back on track as the Eagles canned a season-high nine threes in Macon.

Coach Drown knows, however, that Alabama presents a difficult test compared to other teams the Eagles have faced not only this season, but last year as well. The two teams played in Tuscaloosa back on November 22nd, with Alabama taking a 66-43 victory.

"Alabama is a little different than Mercer," Coach Drown said. "They're more physical on the front line, and we had trouble keeping them off the glass last year. We led that game into the fourth quarter, and didn't catch us until about four minutes to go. They went on a little run and won by 17. Where Mercer really fed off of our turnovers, Alabama doesn't have to do that, they have an interior game that's more traditional, and they are so physical on the glass. We really struggled in our zone to keep them from getting the basketball inside."

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