The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
North grad Leo emerging at CSU
It’s taken a little bit of time for Destiny Leo to get adjusted as a Division I college basketball player.
Doing so during the novel coronavirus pandemic, and it’s understandable for any college freshman across the nation coming along slowly during a season unlike any other.
Similar to her days as a recordsetting, two-time News-Herald girls basketball player of the year, Leo has found a consistent scoring touch at Cleveland State. If it’s the start of what she displayed in high school, the rest of the Horizon League better take notice.
“I knew the coaches wanted me to be a big part of the program, but I had to learn the system,” said Leo, an Eastlake North graduate. “It was about learning to adapt, learning CSU basketball.”
Beyond X’s and O’s, “learning CSU basketball” meant “playing fast,” faster than Leo ever did in high school.
The results were mixed early as the Vikings struggled to a 2-7 mark. Some of that could be contributed to the team not starting its season until Dec. 19. Because of COVID-19 protocols, CSU had four weeks of quarantine, which only added to the adjustment period for Leo and her fellow freshmen teammates.
When the season did begin, Leo was getting solid minutes. The most occurred in CSU’s first two games of the season — 32 and 35. There were also back-toback double-digit games with 19 and 14 points on
Jan. 2 and Jan. 8.
Her most recent string of games have been the most impressive, and has coincided with a three-game winning streak. Leo has scored at least 14 points in four straight games, and been impressive from 3-point range. She’s made 14 of her last 26.
“In high school, a lot of my role was drive and kick, but my coaches (at CSU) definitely see my role as a shooter,” said Leo.
She’s fine with that. In a weekend sweep of Oakland Jan. 29 and 30, she scored a season-high 23 points in 26 minutes then 16 points to close out the series, and earned Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors. In the Jan. 29 game, she was 6 of 6 from the freethrow
line and made 3 of 5 from 3-point range. The next day, she was 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
The Vikings are 5-7 with four scheduled league games remaining. Their Feb. 5-6 weekend series at Detroit Mercy was canceled. Despite that news, Leo said the team “definitely has a run in us.”
Leo credits the play of senior guard Mariah White with the team’s recent success. White is averaging 19.5 points and 3.7 assists.
“Mariah is a machine,” said Leo. “When she’s doubled, she’s always finding the open player and that’s helped my game. For me, it’s about moving without the ball and finding open spaces on the floor.”
At North, Leo was an alltime
player with eye-opening 2,227 career points. As a senior, she was the runnerup for Ohio’s Ms. Basketball Award, was a Division I first-team All-Ohio selection and won The NewsHerald’s Kayla Chones Award. Leo averaged 24.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.
A year later, she’s averaging 10.7 points and 2.3 rebounds for the Vikings while learning on the fly
“The past month, I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable just as a player, but building the relationships with my teammates has meant a lot,” said Leo. “I really didn’t know what to expect or how things would go. But it’s been nice to get opportunities as a freshman and know the coaches believe in me.”