Keelie O’Hollaren’s mother played basketball for Oregon. For the longest time, that was Keelie’s dream too.

Not everything that quacks like a duck turns out to be a duck. Still, Tuesday’s trip to face the Ducks will be extra special.

“I grew up going to Duck games,” said O’Hollaren, a sophomore guard for the Air Force women’s basketball team that will play two games this week in the Beaver State. “When I was little, I was like, ‘I’m going to play for Oregon.’

“I went here, obviously, and I’m glad I made that choice, but also, it’s going to be a cool moment for me to be there on that court.”

O’Hollaren’s mother, Karen (Healea) O’Hollaren, appeared in 59 games for the Ducks between 1992 and 1995, scoring more than 400 points.

“It’s going to be a flashback moment for her,” Air Force coach Stacy McIntyre said. “I can’t imagine how excited they must be.”

The trip will be equally special for senior Madison Smith, who was the inspiration behind the Falcons scheduling Tuesday’s 7 p.m. game at Oregon and the 2 p.m. Friday game at Portland State — the final two games of the nonconference schedule before opening Mountain West play on Dec. 29 against New Mexico.

The Air Force women’s program makes an effort to take the team near the hometowns of upperclassmen, and Smith grew up in Connell, Wash., about a four-hour drive from Portland and around seven from Eugene, Ore.

“It means a lot,” said Smith of the program’s tradition. “I really appreciate the coaches and everything they do to get us all home. It means a lot to my family because they’re able to come watch and just drive and it’s great to have it around the holidays. I have a lot of family that live in Oregon so they’ll get to be there too. It’s really special to me.”

Air Force hasn’t played in 10 days, as it took a break for finals. But the two players who will enjoy a regional welcome are coming in hot. Smith leads the team in steals and is second in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (4.5 rpg).  O’Hollaren has hit 7-of-14 3-pointers off the bench over the past two games.

Smith routinely went to about one Oregon game per year as a youth, not because it was her dream school but because it was an example of “really good women’s basketball” in the area.

The Ducks (7-3) continue to be that, and they represent a massive chance for Air Force (9-1) to throw some weight behind its unprecedented start.

Oregon is rated No. 47 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, easily making it the highest-ranked foe the Falcons will have faced (Northern Colorado currently holds that distinction at No. 119).

The Falcons, whose only loss came in overtime at Army after a late lead slipped away, is ranked No. 128 in that metric.

Oregon owns a win over then-No. 12 Baylor this season and two of its three losses came to ranked opponents — No. 7 USC and No. 17 Georgia Tech.

Air Force is off to its best start since moving to the NCAA Division-I level in 1996-97, and it has a chance to cement this as the best nonconference performance in school history if it were to upset the Ducks.

The Falcons have also never beaten a team from a Power Four conference.

So, there are opportunities aplenty on Tuesday. But for the players, there’s also an appreciation for the program putting an emphasis on taking the team to special places like this to honor their upperclassmen.

“We sacrifice a lot coming to an academy,” said senior point guard Jo Huntimer, who had the chance to play in her native Hawaii when the Falcons visited Honolulu last year. “The biggest thing is family time. We give up a lot of family time. Watching girls get to play in front of their family, even if we’re playing, Oregon, whatever … we’re just happy.”