Casey Santoro and family at the M.A.C.C. (Photo from her Twitter feed.)
Kent State has received its first class of 2020 verbal commitment from Casey Santoro, a 5-4 guard from Bellevue who was first-team all-state as a sophomore. She tweeted earlier this month that she planned to join the Flashes.
Santoro averages 22.5 points a game and leads the Sandusky Bay Conference in scoring. Earlier this season she scored 40 points in a game, connecting on 10 three-point shots. Her team is 16-2 and ranked sixth in the state in Division II. Santoro averaged 19 points a game as a sophomore and was district player of the year.
Casey is the sister of Carly Santoro, who was Bowling Green’s best player for three years, then graduated early and transferred to Ohio State. She’s currently a starter there. The Santoro sisters’ father, Kory, is Bellevue’s head girls coach.
The Sandusky Register reported that Casey received the offer from Kent State after the Classic in the Country Tournament in Berlin, Ohio, in January. (The rest of this post except for the last paragraph is from the Register story by Sarah Baker with some small editing.)
Santoro’s father said KSU coach Todd Starkey “was impressed with the way she played against some of the taller guards that were already committed to Division I for Aurora.
“He had been watching her for a while, but he just needed to see her play with her high school team.”
Coach Santoro said he believes Casey was impressed with the Kent State coaching staff.
“The coaching staff is off the charts,” he said. “I’ve known coach Starkey for a couple years. He came in after Kent State had a losing record; he came in the next year and won a MAC championship in his first year there.
“He’s a very good coach and he has a great staff. Kent has a great point guard coach (assistant Morgan Toles, who started at point for Florida State and Auburn), so I know Casey’s excited.”
Kent State coaches can’t comment on a recruit until she signs an official letter of intent, which can’t happen until November.