The recent rise to national prominence of the Oregon and Oregon State women's basketball teams has come despite both being outspent by historically dominant programs.

Both teams will soon play in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. It marks the first time the in-state rivals have ever overlapped on that stage in back-to-back seasons and it comes less than a decade after each program bottomed out.

Oregon State has built a national power under coach Scott Rueck, even with athletic department budget disadvantages compared to the current Sweet 16 field that features schools with more money to spend.

The Beavers have made a team-record five consecutive NCAA Tournaments and qualified for the Sweet 16 three years in a row, along with the first Final Four in program history. Before that run, Oregon State's only previous Sweet 16 berth came in 1983.

OSU devoted $3.52 million to women's basketball expenses in the 2016-17 academic year, according to the most recent figures submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.

The figure ranks 13th among this year's NCAA Sweet 16 teams, ahead of only North Carolina State ($3.26 million), Buffalo ($1.52 million) and Central Michigan ($1.4 million). Buffalo and Central Michigan are both No. 11 seeds who are outside the Power 5 conference structure.

And despite a larger athletic department budget, Oregon ($3.83 million) ranked only one spot above OSU last year, the same season it began developing momentum under women's basketball coach Kelly Graves.

The Ducks reached their first Elite Eight in program history last season, and they have followed up by winning their first conference title since 2000 and earning their first No. 2 seed at the NCAA Tournament.

Beavers and Ducks in the Sweet 16

Oregon State vs. Baylor -- 4 p.m. (PT) Friday in Lexington, Kentucky

Oregon vs. Central Michigan -- 3 p.m. (PT) Saturday in Spokane, Washington

UConn, Baylor and South Carolina ranked in the top three of women's basketball expenses, with each spending more than $7 million on women's basketball expenses in 2016-17. UConn is 34-0 this season and has won 11 national titles. Baylor has made the Elite Eight seven of the last eight seasons and won the 2012 national title. And South Carolina is the defending national champion.

OSU has less money to spend than many of these other schools. The school put $43.4 million toward expenses for its 17 sports teams in 2016-17, which ranks 14th among the Sweet 16 participants.

But the OSU athletic department did spend about 8.1 percent of its money on women's basketball, a percentage on par with other elite programs.

OSU ranks sixth in that category among Sweet 16 teams. UConn invested 12.7 percent of university-wide team expenses into women's basketball, followed by Baylor (10.2 percent), Mississippi State (9.6 percent), South Carolina (9.3 percent) and Duke (8.2 percent).

Each Sweet 16 school devoted at least 6.1 percent of team expenses to women's basketball during the 2016-17 academic year, while Oregon State has moved past the 8 percent mark each of the past two years.

Oregon State's investment in the sport will continue to grow based alone on the value of Rueck's contract, which the school recently extended into 2027. Rueck is earning $611,000 in the eighth season of his 17-year deal, minus incentives. His salary will grow to $879,452 in the final season of the contract, based on the current deal structure.

In Eugene, Oregon most recently spent 6.1 percent of team expenses on women's basketball and has spent less than 7 percent of its team expenses on women's basketball in each of the past six academic years.

However, the Ducks' larger athletic department budget allowed them to put $3.83 million toward women's basketball -- about $300,000 more than OSU last year -- and Graves earned an extension into 2023 last year following the Ducks' surprise run to the Elite Eight.

Minus incentives, Graves is earning $625,000 this season and is set to earn $750,000 in the final year of his deal.

-- Danny Moran