It would seem impossible to look at this weekend's Civil War women's basketball matchups and not think of the future.

In the short-term, a victory (or two) will help either program's case to host an NCAA Tournament regional come March as one of the country's top 16 seeds. They would also keep seventh-ranked Oregon on track for its first conference title in 18 years, and the 18th-ranked Beavers in the hunt for their fourth crown in as many years.

There are also long-term implications to consider. En route to those Pac-12 titles OSU has owned its rival, winning 13 in a row under coach Scott Rueck. After an Elite Eight appearance last season, however, the Ducks have a roster -- aided by a key head-to-head recruiting battle with OSU -- that could even the rivalry and make deep March runs possible until at least 2020.

In the lead-up to the rivalry's renewal this week, former UO player and coach Bev Smith called the heightened state -- and stakes -- of Willamette Valley women's basketball "exciting" and "entertaining."

There's another word for it, too: rare.

Before Friday and Sunday's matchups between the No. 7 Ducks and No. 18 Beavers, you have to look deep in the 98-game history of the Civil War to find the last time these rivals met while both ranked in The Associated Press Top 25. That game is old enough to have been played during a different era of women's college basketball.

On March 15, 1981, the 18th-ranked Beavers and star forward Carol Menken upset Smith and the 14th-ranked Ducks, 61-54, at the Northwest Basketball League Region IX tournament in Missoula, Montana. Three days later, Oregon went on to play in the AIAW tournament -- because the NCAA didn't govern women's college basketball until the following season.

Now Menken-Schaudt, the Beavers' two-time All-American couldn't recall specifics of the game itself. But the satisfaction of upending a rival -- especially a UO team that was unbeaten against conference opponents to that point -- never fades.

"Oregon at the time was ahead of Oregon State in the development of their program," she said. "They definitely were one of the strongest if not the strongest team in our league.

"It was a sad day for the Ducks."

In a December 1980 tournament in Portland, Oregon State's Carol Menken fights to hold onto a rebound against BYU. She still holds the OSU single-game school record with 51 points, set 10 months earlier in February 1980.

Just as large crowds are expected Friday at Gill Coliseum and Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena, 2,487 and 3,740 fans watched the Civil Wars held in Corvallis and Eugene, respectively, during the 1980-81 season in which Menken-Schaudt averaged 29.6 points and 10.9 rebounds and Smith 19.8 points and 11.8 boards.

UO was coached by Elwin Heiny, whose 310 wins in 17 season remain a program record. OSU's Aki Hill also was in charge for 17 seasons herself, winning 274 games. The coaches stoked the rivalry while paying their respects to the other program up Oregon 99.

"I remember very well playing in 'The Pit,'" Menken-Schaudt said of UO's former home, McArthur Court. "It was something that was almost unheard of in women's basketball and the reason why the Civil War game drew that many fans when we played in Corvallis was because the Duck fans all got in their cars and drove up. It was 80 percent green and yellow in Gill Coliseum on Civil War days and we didn't care, because it was exciting to play in front of that kind of energy, even if it was all Duck fans."

Oregon won 25 games in 1980-81 -- a program record for victories matched only in 1998-99 -- and during Ducks home doubleheaders, Smith began hearing from fans who said they were not inclined to stick around and watch the men once the women had finished.

"It was tremendously exciting," she said. "We just felt we were living in the golden era at that time and both (Oregon and Oregon State) were very, very competitive."

Smith went on to play a long international career, was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and continued her long association with the Canadian national team as a coach during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Menken-Schaudt won a gold medal with the U.S. at the 1984 Olympics and joined the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame nine years later. Both plan to watch the Civil War in person this week; both live just miles from their old college campus.

Yet while their careers took off, their alma maters began an uneven few decades, and the programs' upswings rarely aligned. Until now.

Oregon is 17-2 in coach Kelly Graves' fourth season and off to the best conference start in team history, at 6-0. Star UO freshman Satou Sabally, who left Germany as of the top-ranked international recruits, had UO and OSU as her finalists. That signing has already paid dividends. Sabally has earned multiple Pac-12 freshman of the week honors and her sister, Nyara, another top-ranked international player, will follow her to UO next season.

The Beavers, who have reached the Final Four and Sweet 16 the past two seasons, rebounded from their first losing streak in four years by sweeping Arizona and No. 18 Arizona State last weekend. In the Pac-12 standings, they are tied for second, looking up at UO. In the rivalry, however, Oregon State holds the upper hand thanks to a winning streak that dates to 2011. Waiting in the wings in Corvallis is point guard Destiny Slocum, a national freshman of the year last season at Maryland who is sitting out this winter due to transfer rules.

You can stand staunchly on either side of the rivalry, Smith and Menken-Schaudt said, and nonetheless appreciate both programs' twin ascensions and how they have led to two of the most-anticipated Civil Wars in years.

"Just really proud of both," Menken-Schaudt said.

Smith, now the executive director of Kidsports in Eugene, said she has already seen the appeal of that success rubbing off on the next generation -- players who likely won't have to wait 37 more years before seeing a pair of ranked teams face off in another Civil War.

"I go to (UO) games and I just see so many young girls and families are back, and that was kind of missing the last five or eight years," Smith said. "It's fun to see both teams very competitive right now. I think it's very healthy."

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif