STATESBORO - Georgia Southern women's basketball returns to the national postseason for the first time in almost 30 years as the Eagles open up action in the 13th Women's Basketball Invitational on Friday evening, taking on Northern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. from the Clive M. Beck Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

The tournament, held on the campus of Transylvania University, will be just the fourth time in the 50-year history of Eagle women's basketball that Georgia Southern has participated in the national postseason - and the first time since the school captured the SoCon Tournament in 1994 and faced North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Championships.

Head Coach Anita Howard, in her fourth season at the helm of Georgia Southern women's basketball, understands the importance of her team participating in the postseason after such a long drought.

"I think this is a huge opportunity in moving this program forward," Coach Howard said. "When I took over four years ago, this was the vision I had for this program. I wanted this team to be prepared to be at the top of the Sun Belt, and to play in the postseason. And I think we are fortunate that we've done enough this season to be recognized and have the opportunity to play."

At 20-8, the Eagles have the second-best record of the 8-team WBI field, behind only 23-9 ETSU. The first-round matchup against Northern Illinois (16-14) is a first-time opponent for Georgia Southern, and it will be the first time the Eagles have played against an opponent from the MAC since a 62-48 loss to Kent State on December 19, 2019 in Las Vegas. A second-day matchup would pit the Eagles against either Cal Baptist (19-13) or North Dakota (18-11), while the other half of the bracket includes New Mexico State (16-16), Illinois-Chicago (18-15) and FIU (12-18) along with ETSU.

"Eight teams in the WBI," Coach Howard said. "And there's only three champions from here on out. The WBI, the WNIT and the NCAA. We have an opportunity to be one of those three teams across the country that get to cut down nets in March. It's a huge lep for this program in the right direction of where we want to be. I think people are respecting Georgia Southern women's basketball for what our staff has done, and for what our student-athletes have done. It's been a long journey, but we're seeing the fruits of our labor with our culture under construction."

The rest of the field will have to deal with an Eagles squad that ranks in the top five nationally in rebounding (46.71 rebounds per game) and is one of only 10 teams in the country averaging better than 80 points per game (80.4 ppg). First-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection Terren Ward (18.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is second in the league in scoring and third in rebounding, while senior point guard Ja'nya Love-Hill is among the nation's leaders in assist to turnover ratio (2.18). Plus, the Eagles will be relying on "Tournament" Taya Gibson, who put up a career-best 26 points in the Sun Belt Tournament against Arkansas State on march 1, while also grabbing 14 rebounds. Gibson averages 17.5 points per game in six career postseason games coming into the WBI.

What does Coach Howard want the nation to learn about the Eagles this weekend?

"We talked about the pressure," Coach Howard said. "But we want to take it in stride. I told my team to just live in the moment. The blood, sweat and tears over the years have built us for this moment. We know what we are capable of, and now we want to show the world what we are capable of."