“Character is the direct result of mental attitude. I believe that character is higher than the intellect. I believe that leadership is in sacrifice, in self-denial, in humility and in the perfectly disciplined will. This is the distinction between great and little men.”—Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi.

How appropriate NIU’s women’s basketball team followed that creed to perfection in the same city Lombardi made famous as long-time boss of the Green Bay Packers.

Character is what the Huskies were about as they refused to drop their guard during their three-day quest for the Mid-Continent Conference postseason title.

02-51.

81-47.

75-58.

That’s how determined NIU was in reaching the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year.

With their three-game sweep of the best the Mid-Con had to offer, the Huskies had no need to sweat Sunday morning at the Days Inn when the names and pairings for the 48-team field were revealed.

At 11:35 a.m., a full house of team members, administrators, media and fans saw Northern Illinois uncovered in the East Regional bracket. Immediately above the Huskies was Georgetown.

When all was said and done, NIU had earned a No. 11 seed into the Big Dance—the exact same ranking it received a year ago in the Mideast Region. Only difference is the Huskies won’t catch a break this year and host the first-round contest.

The character check resumes Wednesday night at 6:30 when Jane Albright-Dieterle’s team travels to the nation’s capital for a clash with the Big East’s Hoyas.

“The main thing we’re going to concentrate on is we have an opportunity to succeed,” said Albright-Dieterle of the tournament committee’s decision to deny NIU a first-round home game.

“… (The committee) had a lot more information at this point in time. We figured, though, what was in our hands to control, we did. We won the conference. We finished strong. If they didn’t think it was strong enough to get the opportunity to host the first round, then it must not have been.”

The Huskies (24-5) tried to deliver a sonic boom to the NCAA headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., with their play at Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Phoenix Center.

Last Thursday, top-seeded NIU fired the first shot of the Mid-Con tournament with the 51-point pounding of No. 8 seed Eastern Illinois.

Six Huskies hit double figures in scoring: Cindy Conner (21), E.C. Hill (17), Dianna Wingis (14), Charmonique Stallworth (14), Tiana Burkholder (11) and Leslie Pottinger (11). And yes, Jenny Sullivan delivered her own shot with a three-point bullseye in the waning seconds.

Even more impressive were the 21 assists (eight from Chelsea Schwankl), season-high 26 steals (career-high nine by Conner) and 59-32 rebounding advantage churned out by the Huskies.

With the always-important first game out of the way, NIU was able to set its sights on Illinois-Chicago, which surprised Valparaiso 101-100 in Round 1. Not that revenge didn’t hurt.

Last month, the Flames turned in an 81-76 upset victory on their home court. But February was a long-distance call away for the Huskies as they took the rubber match last Friday by the 81-47 count.

NIU left no doubt in the first half as to who was king with a 45-23 advantage at intermission. For the game, UIC made a meager 30 percent of its field-goal attempts and committed 25 turnovers.

Inmdvidually, Caryn Alexander paced the Huskies with a career-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Hill added 13, Debbie Teske 11 and Burkholder and Conner 10 each.

Coupled with UWGB’s 73-63 semifinal win over Youngstown State, the stage was set for a Saturday afternoon title battle between the league’s two top teams.

Last season, the Phoenix (19-10) won both regular-season affairs with NIU but failed to capture the automatic bid to the NCAA ball when the Huskies protected home territory and won the final North Star Conference championship.

This year, NIU had the 2-0 advantage over Carol Hammerle’s crew and certainly put to rest in the final six minutes any notions of beating the same team three times in a season was impossible.

NIU led just 35-31 at halftime, although it held a 31-20 rebounding edge and forced Phoenix center Kim Wood to the bench with early foul trouble.

Problem was the Huskies shot just 32 percent in those first 20 minutes, including a 3-of-11 performance from Conner and 2-for-10 by Hill.

Although Conner failed to connect in half No. 2 and ended her double-digit scoring streak at 60 games, Hill was on a mission to carry her teammates to the NCAA party.

The junior lit up for 16 points (7-of-10 shooting) in the deciding stanza, including six in a span of 1:16 to turn away the hosts late in the game. Hill finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds, while Teske and Alexander each chipped in 12. Wingis (11) and Alexander (10) staked the Huskies to an overwhelming 56-33 advantage on the boards.

“We knew all along that we won every game this year that we were the high rebounders,” Albright-Dieterle said. “We felt that would be the key.”

With the championship not a surprise to many, the shocker came after when UWGB’s Dawn Schirmacher was awarded tournament MVP honors ahead of Hill. Joining them on the all-tourney team were Conner, Wood and Youngstown State’s Donna Djorovic.