No Question About It, Greco Is the Answer : Girls’ basketball: Freshman helps Crescenta Valley keep its place among area’s best teams.

It is 30 minutes before Crescenta Valley High’s 15th girls’ basketball game of the season, when the team’s point guard poses an interesting question.

“Exactly what does the point guard do?”

Freshman Michelle Greco’s confusion is understandable. She already has played several positions this season--only her second full year in organized basketball. Although her backcourt background might be sketchy, she already has caught the attention of high school and college coaches.

In less than two months, Greco has become one of the area’s top scorers and evoked comparisons to one of the Southern Section’s most-prolific scorers ever.

Greco is averaging 17.8 points and has helped Crescenta Valley to a 14-4 record.

She still may not know exactly what she should be doing, but she’s certainly getting it done.

Despite her inexperience, Greco already has been moved this season from forward to point guard, perhaps the game’s most demanding and important position on the floor.

And many believe Greco, 14, has more than enough ability to lead the Falcons well into the Southern Section playoffs.

“She reminds me a lot of Michelle Palmisano at that age,” said Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown after seeing Greco play last week in the Thousand Oaks tournament. He coached Palmisano, No. 3 on the Southern Section’s career scoring list, before she moved on to UCLA and Vanderbilt. “She shows an awful lot of poise for a girl that age.”

Greco caught the eye of at least one Division I college coach last summer as a member of Southern California’s Amateur Athletic Union 13-and-under team which was playing in a national competition in Kenner, La.

“Palmisano may have been a better shooter at that age, but I would rank Greco well ahead of her in sheer athleticism,” the Division I assistant said. “She has a nice instinct for the game and showed a great work ethic.

“The question is, just how good is she going to get? College coaches will definitely follow her to find out.”

Her placement on the AAU team could be considered a fluke.

“My friend, (Village Christian guard) Jennifer Smith, kept pushing me to go to one of their practices,” Greco said. “I just went there to see what it would be like. I didn’t even know I was going to play.”

Not only did she play, she led the team in scoring as it finished ninth in the nation.

Before her stint with the AAU team, the bulk of Greco’s experience came in the driveway, playing one-on-one games with her older brother, Mike.

“He has really taught me everything I know,” said Greco of her brother, a junior and starting forward on Crescenta Valley’s boys’ team, ranked No. 1 in the Valley by The Times.

Simi Valley Coach Dave Murphy can vouch for the older Greco’s instruction. During the first week of her freshman season, Greco single-handedly led the Falcons to a near-upset of an excellent Simi Valley team in the championship game of the Crescenta Valley tournament.

Rarely do freshmen take over games the way she did that night.

“She lit us up for 37 points,” Murphy said. “I mean 37 points. This girl here is a great scorer.”

Crescenta Valley lost that Dec. 3 game to Simi Valley, but few others since.

The Falcons were not supposed to be 14-4 at this point in the season. Record-setting guard Sarah Hagman graduated, as did three other starters from last season’s 20-6 team that advanced to the Southern Section Division II-AA quarterfinals.

Coach Marc Ward began the season with two seniors on the roster and an entire starting lineup of underclassmen.

As of the winter break, only two of Ward’s 12 varsity players have driver’s licenses.

With so many young players on the Crescenta Valley team, one might think Greco’s transition to high school basketball would have been a smooth one.

“Before my first summer game, I just sat in the corner with another freshman,” Greco said. “I was playing with a team I didn’t know. It was kind of hard.”

Then the game started.

“I was so nervous,” said the 5-foot-10 Greco. “We kept running the same play because it was the only one I knew. Then I missed my first layup.”

Few shots have missed their mark since, and her teammates have taken her in quicker than they do a loose ball.

“To be honest, I kind of thought it would be tougher than this,” Greco said. “I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I just figured I would struggle more as a freshman.”

Greco shouldn’t worry about becoming overconfident. Her teammates still keep her in line.

“Sometimes we still tell her, ‘Look, you’re just a freshman,’ ” said junior guard Amirah Leonard. “But it’s all in fun. We all love her.”

It doesn’t hurt that Greco is averaging 10.2 rebounds and has scored in double figures in each of Crescenta Valley’s 18 games.

And Greco’s move to the point has had a positive impact on Leonard, the previous point guard.

Now free to roam the perimeter, Leonard has increased her scoring average to a team-high 21 points.

In a 62-50 victory over Village Christian, Leonard had 34 points--including five three-point baskets--many on assists from Greco.

Even at this point in her development, it’s tough to find a weakness in Greco’s game.

She handles the ball effortlessly against the press, routinely finds the open player for easy layups and anticipates opponents’ passes like few others.

While all this is going on, a smile rarely leaves her face.

It’s almost like this whole deal is somewhat amusing to her.

“Other than Lisa Leslie, who was 6-foot-6, Michelle is the best player I have ever worked with,” said Ward, who coached at girls’ basketball powerhouse Morningside from 1985-90. “I’m not comparing freshman years. Right now, she’s already the best.”

Greco appears to be taking it all in stride.

“It’s great hearing that kind of stuff,” she said. “But I don’t really know how to take it because I’m still really young. It is really neat when other coaches compliment you, though.”

And by now, Greco has become accustomed to the spotlight.

Last fall, playing organized tennis for the first time, she teamed with sophomore Michelle Rowan--a basketball teammate--to win the Pacific League doubles championship.

No one needs to tell Ward that Greco can do it all.

“I’m going to use her in the spots I think will be best for the team,” he said.

And there’s still plenty of time for Greco to learn exactly what those positions are.