AURORA | The player with the most wins in the history of the Grandview girls basketball program picked the place she’ll continue her hardwood career.
Katie Cunningham, who racked up 86 career victories in four seasons in a Wolves uniform and helped lead the program to back-to-back appearances in the Class 5A state semifinals, signed a national athletic letter of intent to play at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The 5-foot-11 guard/forward also owns school records in steals and assists and played her way into the 2013-14 Aurora Sentinel All-City Girls Basketball starting five, as well as earning selection for the Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports (CCGS) All-State Game and The Show all-star game sponsored by the Denver Nuggets.
“We are very excited and feel very fortunate that Katie had chosen to join our basketball program,” Iowa Western C.C. head coach Jim Turgeon said in a statement. “Katie is a highly-decorated player that can play multiple positions. Her versatility and size make her a great fit for our system.”
Cunningham played point guard for her first three seasons at Grandview, but took on a different set of responsibilities as a senior due to the graduation of a very talented group of seniors after the 2012-13 season. Cunningham finished third on the team in scoring average at 8.3 points per game and also recorded 7.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.4 steals per game for coach Josh Ulitzky’s 24-3 team, which posted a 14-0 mark in Centennial League play and made it to the 5A Final Four before falling to Fossil Ridge.
In all, Cunningham was part of four Wolves team that had at least a share of the league championship, went to the Great 8 as a sophomore and made the semifinals in each of her final two seasons. In the past three seasons, she averaged 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.4 steals per ballgame.
The athletic Cunningham also played soccer for Grandview in the spring and earned second-team All-Centennial League honors as a defender in helping the Wolves made the second round of the 5A state playoffs before falling to Pine Creek.
Cunningham joins an Iowa Western C.C. program that finished 25-7 this past season and has developed a tradition of sending its players on to Division I programs in the past two years, as seven players have made the move up after their time with the Rievers.
Iowa Western C.C. has also produced three National Junior College Athletic Association All-Americans in the past five seasons.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
