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The San Diego State women’s basketball team is climbing a ladder two steps at a time. SDSU is trying to leap from laughingstock to nationally respected squad while skipping several monotonous rebuilding years.

Two years ago, the Aztecs were 3-24 overall and 0-16 in Mountain West Conference play. That was the bottom of the ladder.

Last season, they improved to 12-16 (5-11 in MWC); they were about two steps off the ground.

In 2007-08, they expect to move a bit quicker.

“We’d like to skip a step in improvement,” head coach Beth Burns said. “First we struggled, then we became a real team and competed with people, so normally the realistic goal would be to get to the upper part of our conference.

“But for us to skip a step we would have to get to the (NCAA Tournament), and we think that if we stay healthy we’ve got a shot at that.”

Last year’s leaders – sophomore point guard Quenese Davis and senior forward Shanna Demus – will be charged with making Burns prophetic. Both are returning and are expected to carry the brunt of the load.

Davis was the team’s de facto go-to player and will get better progressively – a scary thought for MWC competition – and Demus brings defense and leadership to a team equal-parts veteran and rookie.

“We have the MVP in Quenese and our defensive key in Shanna both coming back,” Burns said. “We have lots of returning players that will help enormously and you can add to that our newcomers.”

Freshman center Paris Johnson from San Diego and freshman guard Coco Davis from Sacramento headline SDSU’s four-player recruiting class.

Coco Davis will serve as an additional scorer/distributor and Johnson will be, well, a monster.

She’ll be the Aztecs’ anchor on both ends of the court at 6 feet 4 inches tall with a nose for rebounds and a knack for easy baskets. Johnson is a top-tier talent and should put the SDSU on the national map.

“Paris is one of the best players in the West, if not the country,” Burns said. “We targeted her two years ago as a statement recruit. She’s the kind of player that makes other people check us out.”

And if the two main recruits’ names, Johnson and Coco Davis, sound familiar, that’s because their siblings are current or former Aztecs. Johnson’s older sister is recently graduated center Desiree Johnson and Coco’s sister is Quenese, SDSU’s current ringleader.

That sibling recruiting reflects well on the Aztecs.

“It shows people that we’re doing something right,” Burns said. “It says that kids enjoy it here and that’s a good endorsement of our program and our coaching staff.”

A more powerful program endorsement, however, would be a winning season; something no longer years away.

The Aztecs were a combined 49 games under .500 over the last four seasons, but SDSU is climbing to respectability.

“With everybody we have returning and the added players that give us much needed size and easier baskets, we have lots of reason to be optimistic,” Burns said.