Michelle Greco Leads CV Alumni Over Varsity in Annual Basketball Game

Michelle Greco was back at Crescenta Valley High School last Friday for the fourth annual Alumni Game just months after her team, the Seattle Storm, won the WNBA championship.

The 1998 graduate had not played in the previous three alumni games because she was playing professionally Europe, so she never had the chance, though she has always wanted to. “I’m very excited to be back here at the high school I spent four great years at,” said Greco.

Greco is, and forever will be, one of the best players to ever grace Crescenta Valley High, and that goes for males and females. She stood out in the eyes of many as a gifted basketball player who was sure to go far with her talents. She made teammates want to practice and made opponents feel intimidated. Leading her team to Pacific League championships, Greco has made herself a hometown hero and has been welcomed to play at CV.

“Playing here [at CV] made me prepared for higher levels of basketball and I’m very thankful for that,” said Greco

After graduating from CV, she attended UCLA and was a nightmare for her opponents in the Pac-10. Greco earned first-team All Pac-10 in 2000-2001 and 2002-2003. She led the Pac-10 in scoring in 2002-2003 at 18.9 a game. She is fourth all time in three-point field goals made and 15th all-time in scoring with 1,158 points.

Her game is not only about offense however, as she is one of the best defenders in Pac-10 history finishing second all-time in steals at 288.

Greco was now ready for the WNBA, but the professional womens’ basketball league, wasn’t ready for her. She went undrafted but was then signed by the Cleveland Rockers in May 2003. However, a week later, the Rockers cut her. Realizing she had to step up her game a bit, Greco went out and played for teams in Israel and Greece and excelled making all-star teams and first-teams.

The Seattle Storm signed Greco in April of 2004 where she played her rookie season and where she won a WNBA championship. “The feeling was unbelievable,” said Greco. “Winning a championship in my rookie season was amazing.”

Now Greco is preparing for next season by just playing basketball and working out every day. Last Friday night, Greco gave her hometown fans a lot to cheer about as she led the alumni team to a win over the Crescenta Valley High women’s varsity team, 72-45.

The alumni squad, led by Greco, got off to an early 8-0 lead. The varsity team looked confused, intimidated and thankful at the same time that they were facing a WNBA player. Head Coach Alan Eberhart called a time-out and tried to get his players focused.

Greco went out of the game for a short breather a few minutes into the third quarter which enabled the varsity team to get back into the game and cut the alumni’s lead to 16-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Starting the second quarter, the varsity team looked on as Greco came back into the game and took off right where she left off scoring baskets, playing tight defense, and getting her teammates good opportunities to also score. The Seattle Storm would probably like hearing that their player had 15 points at the end of the first half and had her team up, 31-26.

The second half did not go much better for the varsity team as the Falcons still had no answer for Greco, who was playing lights out ball. Even though it was a friendly game, Greco still played competitively, like she wanted to win, and a loss was not an option.

In the fourth quarter, the game was out of reach for the CV varsity though the Falcons were still trying their best. However, there was just no answer for Greco who finished the game with 29 points, 10 steals and a bundle of beautiful passes that got the crowd cheering.

It was a definitely a game that everyone in attendance would remember as they got to witness a WNBA star doing what she does best, play basketball.

“Our team needs to improve on cutting down the turnovers,” said Eberhart. “We didn’t play with enough confidence. We will not see a better player than Greco this season, obviously, so it’s good for our players to go up against a player like that.”