Streetsboro High School graduate Naomi Benson had opportunities to play at other schools, but chose her friendships and community had a stronger hold on her heart. She led the program to historic places and will continue her career at the University of Illinois.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

It was a simple question, but, initially, Carl Singer was not quite sure how to respond.

Not because the question was challenging, but because its implication was not even on his radar.

“Where did you get her from?”

It was asked out of curiosity from an official during a pregame conversation with the Streetsboro girls basketball coach, while his Rockets were in the middle of warmups.

The referee was asking about Naomi Benson.

It was only a couple of games into her freshman season, but her height, athleticism and charisma were already the spotlight of the gymnasium.

“Once I realized that he was implying that we recruited Namoi, I laughed and told him, “We got her from Kindergarten’.”

While comedic at the time, the quote has stayed with Singer as a point of pride that the greatest girls basketball player in school history, despite every opportunity for otherwise, stayed rooted with the Rockets.

Understandably and deservingly, Benson will forever be remembered for all she and her teammates accomplished on the basketball court, including historic league championships, memorable tournament runs, team and individual school records and plenty of smiles along the way.

But a part of Benson’s story will always be that she stayed home to do it.

Benson’s career began with the Rockets as a fourth grade youth player and it finished with the Rockets as an All-Ohio superstar, who received multiple Division I scholarships before choosing to continue her academic and basketball careers in the Big Ten at the University of Illinois.

“Streetsboro will always be home to me. I love this place. I really, really do,” Benson said. “The town and the community are amazing, and they have been good to me and my family. My friends mean everything to me, and I couldn’t imagine enjoying all of the moments we did anywhere else but here in Streetsboro with my friends.”

HELLO, STREETSBORO

Benson and her family moved to Streetsboro in 2007.

Her father, Gregory, grew up in Shaker Heights. Her mother, Candace, grew up in East Cleveland, where the family was living before relocating to Streetsboro.

When she arrived, she did what most any kid would do, she started making friends and having fun.

Long before Naomi’s future was layered with basketball, she was just a kid being a kid.

Making friends in school and spending warm days and summers in the backyard with her neighbors, turning each day into a long one.

“We would knock on each other’s doors at 9 in the morning and not come home until 7 at night, maybe only stopping back home for lunch or a snack,” Benson said.

“Charles Ivory (current Streetsboro senior) lived in my same development, and we were instantly childhood best friends. I remember we would play Marvel superheroes on the trampoline, play one-on-one or knockout on our backyard court … we did everything together. We would just fill our days playing and having fun.”

It was part of a memorable childhood, but it was also the start of irreplaceable friendships that would later prove too special for Benson to leave behind.

As her basketball identity began to accelerate on a statewide level, opportunities were placed in front of her and conversations were initiated to convince her to play basketball somewhere other than Streetsboro.

The problem was that all of the discussions were always missing the one thing that only Streetsboro could offer: Her friends and teammates.

I know relationships played a huge part in Naomi playing for Streetsboro. She is one of the kindest and humble people that I know, especially for someone that gets a lot of individual attention. Naomi was obviously close with Raegan and Sydney who are graduating this year with her and who she has played with since youth basketball. Through the high school years she became very good friends with players from both the class above and below her as well as everybody else on the team. I think she would be the first to say success is great but it means so much more when you can celebrate it with the people that are most important to you and that is what made her time at Streetsboro special.

EVENTUALLY THEY STOPPED ASKING

Benson’s start in basketball was a simple one.

Like many, she signed up for youth basketball and played alongside her friends from school.

All were learning the game for the first time, trying to master fundamentals and attempting to absorb an understanding of the game.

Initially, Benson’s skill level aligned with her grade level, but then began to gather speed in middle school.

To the point that by the end of her eighth-grade season, she already had the attention of Power 5 colleges before she had played a single high-school game.

Benson was officially on the map.

And so began the inquiries into her future as a prep player, with coaches probably believing the door was open for thought considering Benson’s older brother Nehemiah transferred from Streetsboro to Lutheran East as an underclassmen.

Naomi remained committed and consistent with questions about if she would consider transferring: “No.”

Even with making her stance known, Benson said she remembers rumors swirling around the idea.

Naomi Benson is all smiles after Streetsboro won the Metro Athletic Conference championship in 2023-24 — the first in school history.
Pauline Dierkens/Portage Sports

“I remember hearing some stuff, so I wanted to connect with coach (Singer), so I remember there was a day where I went up to him and told him, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ and gave him a big hug.”

“I just couldn’t leave my team behind. All of us were so close and they meant so much to me, especially Ella (Kassan). I have so many great friends, but I am so grateful for Ella.”

The feeling was more than mutual.

And Kassan had an opportunity to explain to Benson just how strong of an impact she had.

“I was shocked and surprised that after Ella’s senior season she told me that I was the reason she kept playing. Our friendship and the chance to play together. That still makes me smile.”

It is what drove Benson’s desire to remain with the Rockets.

“I knew we had an opportunity to be a team that could make history, but not just in the record books, but also as best friends,” Benson said. “That is a blessing that I couldn’t recreate somewhere else.”

Soon enough, other schools realized it, too.

“By the start of my junior year, they stopped asking me,” said Benson, who finished her playing career as the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,670 points, which is 9th all-time in Portage County history) and rebounder (1,274).

A NORMAL TEENAGE GIRL

At 6-foot-3, Benson does more than just stand above the crowd, she is one of tallest students at school.

Her basketball prowess has elevated her notoriety at school and beyond and it is not uncommon for her to be stopped out in the community to be asked, “Are you the girl who plays basketball…?”

It is also not unusual for youth players in the district to not only recognize her, but they see her as an immediate role model and someone to look up to.

It makes Benson smile and she admits that it humbles her, but she also is quick to point out that she doesn’t place herself on the same pedestal that everyone else does.

Streetsboro’s Ella Kassan (left) and Naomi Benson share a celebrational moment following the team’s Division II district championship victory in 2024.
Myra Smith/Portage Sports

“I am just me. I don’t see myself as anything other than a normal teenage girl,” Benson said. “My parents taught me to be humble and that if you live your life that way, more blessings will come into your life. When you view things that way, it is easy to be yourself.”

She does more than just talk about it. Benson displays it daily and Singer has seen it for six years, teaching her at the middle-school level and then coaching her throughout her high-school career.

“She is one of the kindest and humble people that I know, especially for someone who gets a lot of individual attention,” said Singer, who also watched from the front row on how Benson’s impact on her team, teammates and the entire Rockets program was felt deeper than just her statistical output.

“When your best player is coachable, it makes running a program a lot easier,” Singer said. “I have known Naomi for a long time, having conversations with her about her potential when she played youth, to having her in class in middle school and, finally, being her coach for four years of high school. We have a great relationship built on trust and respect from our mutual goal of making this program great. We are able to joke around with each other one minute, and I am able to call her out on not playing hard the next. She knows I truly care about her and always tell her the truth about what she needs to do to reach her potential. 

“A quote I have put on our team shirts for many years now is, ‘One Program, One Family,’ and that is something Naomi wanted to be a part of.”

It’s long been said that home is where the heart is.

Benson trusted hers and because she did, she filled it with lasting memories shared with loving friendships that were unique to Streetsboro.

The home of Naomi Benson.