Greco’s Season Over at UCLA

Senior guard Michelle Greco will sit out the rest of the basketball season after UCLA doctors said she needed to recover from a series of mild concussions sustained in her sophomore and junior seasons.

Greco, 21, the defending Pacific 10 scoring champion, was examined by the UCLA campus medical staff before the season started, said senior women’s administrator Betsy Stephenson. Greco played in five games, averaging 23.6 points, before all the test results came back.

The day before UCLA’s Dec. 5 game against San Diego, Greco was told she was not cleared to play. She sat out games against San Diego and Colorado awaiting more test results. She learned Tuesday evening that team doctors would not clear her to play again this season.

“The results of a number of tests ... have put the sports medicine staff in the position to make this determination,” Stephenson said. “She literally needs to take the year off.”

Stephenson said UCLA will seek a medical hardship for Greco from the Pac-10 Conference, which would give her a fifth college season. A player who has appeared in no more than 20% of the team’s games in a season is eligible for a medical hardship. If a player is redshirted, they cannot play at all during the season.

“I’m disappointed because I feel good,” said Greco, who can exercise and travel with the team but cannot scrimmage or play pickup games.

“I felt I was playing well and was looking forward to improving throughout the season, looking hopefully toward the WNBA. But I’m looking at it in a positive way; next year I can come back healthy and stronger.”

Greco insisted her playing career is not over and said she was not having typical symptoms like slowed breathing, headaches, slurred speech or blurred vision.

“That’s why I hoped to play Sunday [against Baylor],” she said. “But, in speaking with my family, [not playing] is what’s best for me.”

UCLA (3-4), trying to break a three-game losing streak against the ninth-ranked Bears (9-0), has struggled offensively in defeats to Utah, San Diego and Colorado. The task becomes harder without Greco, who was equally adept at shooting from the outside or driving to the basket.

” Coach Kathy Olivier said she will probably continue starting sophomore Gennifer Arranaga in Greco’s place. But Arranaga is limping because of a sore right ankle.