Greco wins Italian title

GLENDALE — Michelle Greco has now won professional basketball titles on two different continents, the latest milestone in the globe-trotting career of one of the best players in area lore.

The former Crescenta Valley High standout, who was a member of the WNBA-champion Seattle Sparks in 2004, helped lead Cras Taranto to the Italian League Serie A championship with a 3-1 win in a best-of-five series over Umana Reyer culminating on May 10 in Venice.

“It was just an unbelievable experience winning the championship there after playing for four seasons in Italy,” Greco said. “All in all, it was a good season and it was a fun season, obviously, because when you win, you have fun.”

Cras Taranto, which was defeated in the Serie A finals last season, entered this year’s playoffs as the top seed after finishing the regular season 21-5.

After sweeping Pool Comense in the best-of-three quarterfinals and going the distance with C.A. Faenza in the best-of-three semis, Cras Taranto lost the first game of the finals on the road before reeling off three straight wins.

“We took ‘em down, we didn’t want to play a fifth game,” Greco said.

Cras Taranto also played in the EuroCup, which runs concurrently with the Italian League season, and advanced to the final round of that tournament, as well.

Greco and Co. fell to Galatasaray Istanbul in the EuroCup championship game on April 9.

Having won the Italian League title, Cras Taranto will move up from the EuroCup to the prestigious EuroLeague next season, Greco’s last under her current contract.

Much like the UEFA Champions League in European soccer, the EuroCup and EuroLeague feature the best teams from national leagues around the continent.

“We kind of need to build up our team a little bit more to go up against some of those Russian powerhouses with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi and Lauren Jackson,” said Greco in respect to a trio of top-notch WNBA players.

At the conclusion of the 2009-10 season, in which Greco said the team has a good shot to make another Italian League title run, Greco plans to weigh her options as to whether she will continue her playing career.