The coin goes up, flips in the air, then begins its descent. As the silver disc makes its way down, anxiety increases among those awaiting the outcome. Finally, the coin lands, rolls a bit and comes up heads.

No, NIU women’s basketball coach Jane Albright did not make the right call. She didn’t have to. It was DePaul coach Doug Bruno who called tails and handed the Huskies the No. 1 seed for the North Star Conference Tournament.

All this excitement took place Monday afternoon centercourt at DePaul’s Alumni Hall, site of the 1989 NSC inaugural tourney. Every one of the eight teams in the conference technically has a shot, but season records indicate a three-team race.

Wisconsin-Green Bay, DePaul and NIU make up the realistic race, but any of the other five teams (Cleveland State, Marquette, Akron, Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago) would love to play the role of spoiler. By becoming the No. 1 seed, NIU will not have to play UW-GB in the second round.

The Huskies could have avoided the coin toss with a win last Saturday, but an 85-63 loss to UW-GB tied NIU with DePaul at 12-2 in the conference. Green Bay finished with an 11-3 ledger.

NIU will tip off the NSC tourney with a noon matchup against No. 8 seed Cleveland State (3-24, 2-12) on Thursday. If NIU defeats CSU, the Huskies will meet the winner of the Akron-Marquette game.

DePaul is paired against Valparaiso for round one. If the Blue Demons win, Bruno and his squad will take on either UIC or Green Bay in the semi-finals.

Under the condition that NIU defeats its first two opponents and makes it to the finals, the NIU Athletic Ticket Office will organize a bus trip to the game for Huskie fans. The championship game is on Saturday March 11, at 7 p.m. For further information about the bus trip, call 753-0353.