At the start of this 2016-17 basketball season, junior Trista Cunningham became an upperclassman, and with that had to take on a leadership role on the Moravian College women’s basketball team.

The 2014 Northwestern Lehigh High School graduate has seen a change in her mindset around the game and in the classroom, and it has benefited her and her program this year.

“As a junior, the biggest emphasis for me growing into an upperclassman has really been gaining confidence and maturing as a player and a student,” said Cunningham. “I have learned so much about the sport and myself looking back from freshman year to now.”

Back in the fall of 2014 when the junior first stepped foot on the Bethlehem campus, the decision to attend school there was reinforced.

“Being able to play college basketball, especially at Moravian, has meant the world me,” said Cunningham. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity to continue my basketball career further than the high school level. With that said, I don’t think I could’ve chosen a more fitting school for me. Moravian basketball has supplied me with great friends and teammates, and we have an awesome coaching staff. I couldn’t be happier.”

Cunningham was able to see the court early in her career. She played in 23 of the 27 games during her freshman season in 2014-15, and played in 25 of the 28 games the following year, when Moravian finished 20-8 and won a first round game in the NCAA Division III tournament. It was the program’s first NCAA tournament win since the 1992-93 season.

“Qualifying and winning the first round of NCAA’s last year was, by far, my favorite basketball memory,” Cunningham added. “Just being chosen for the tournament was a big excitement for our program and the win just made it 10 times better. I think that experience really showed how much potential and talent the Moravian Women’s basketball program really has.”

So far this season, through 19 games, Cunningham has played in 18 and made 5 starts. She is averaging 5.2 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game in 18.2 minutes per game.

With three-quarters of the season over, and just six more regular season games to be played this month, Moravian is 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the Landmark Conference, which is good for second place, tied with Scranton (17-2, 6-2) and two games behind Catholic University (17-2, 8-0).

“There is great competition right now in the Landmark Conference, as always,” said Cunningham. “Even though we lost a lot of talent last year I think we gained a lot also. If we continue to play together and play hard for all 40 minutes, I think we have a lot of potential to go far and be successful in our conference.”

During her time at Northwestern, the accounting major was a part of many successful teams on the basketball court and soccer field. She had a lot of great experiences dating back to her early years in the school district.

“I can’t emphasize enough how much I learned at Northwestern and how much I loved playing there,” Cunningham said. “At Northwestern, I was able to compete and play with some amazing athletes. I remember being hesitant to start playing in seventh grade, but I was convinced to by a coach. From there on, I had amazing teachers and coaches to get me where I am today.”

Cunningham is one of three captains on Moravian, and the only junior captain.