Former San Diego State guard Courtney Clements playing for her second straight WNBA Finals appearance

Former San Diego State guard Courtney Clements will be competing for her second WNBA title in as many years when her Chicago Sky face off against the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Clements became the first Aztec to ever appear in the WNBA finals last season, ironically as a member of the Atlanta Dream. Fast forward to this year, and the only thing standing in the way of back-to-back trips to the WNBA finals is her former team.

It’s safe to say that Clements is one of the more decorated woman’s basketball players in SDSU history. After transferring over from Arizona after the 2008-09 season, Clements went on to win the Mountain West Player of the Year her junior season, while also helping the Aztecs clinch back-to-back MW titles, along with leading the team to its most wins in program history her senior season (27).

In her WNBA career, Clements is mostly a role player, averaging just 2.7 points per game this year, and 2.5 points per game for her career. However, in her first professional start this season with the Sky, Clements flashed the talent that made her a favorite at SDSU, scoring a career high 17 points, to go along with three assists.

The Sky did finish the season with a mediocre record of 15-19, but they hold the season series over their counterpart in this series, finishing 3-2 against the Dream in 2014.

Don’t expect Clements to have the kind of impact that former Aztec and current San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard had in the 2014 NBA Playoffs, but just in the last couple years, SDSU fans have seen the first men’s and woman’s basketball alums reach the NBA and WNBA finals respectively, and even have seen Leonard bring home a Finals MVP.

San Diego State still has a way to go when it comes to producing consistent professional impact players, but the sight of players like Clements making back-to-back trips to the WNBA Playoffs, along with a trip to the finals last year, indeed shows signs of progression for this program.

The first game of the series will be played tomorrow in Atlanta, at 4:30 PM PST, and can be seen on NBATV.