Bellevue's Casey Santoro issues public apology

Bellevue star senior guard Casey Santoro issued a public apology via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon for her role in an incident during last Saturday's girls basketball game against Norwalk. Santoro pulled the hair of Norwalk's Olivia Ward, who fell hard to the court at Bellevue High School as both players were running upcourt after Santoro made a 3-point basket. Ward left the game and did not return. She has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a concussion. No foul was called on the play. Here is what Santoro wrote: "I would like to publicly apologize to Norwalk's Olivia Ward, and all basketball fans in the area for this past weekend's unfortunate incident. My intentions were never to hurt anyone. "I know it's brought a lot of negative attention to our area and the game I love. I will learn from this and become a better person because of it." -- Casey Santoro Santoro on Monday was suspended by Bellevue City Schools for Tuesday's game in Shelby. The Lady Red are scheduled to play their regular-season finale at Sandusky on Thursday night.