Knights Win 3 Straight; Lloyd Named MVP of Knights Invitational

The Knights played their first home games of the season at this week's Knights Invitational and they came away with three straight wins over Santa Ana, Reedley, and Cuyamaca with sophomore Kaniya Lloyd being named MVP and Cusha Landry being selected to the all-tournament team. 

Lloyd put up a double-double in the first two games of the Knights Invitational and averaged 15.3 points and 12 rebounds in the three wins to earn the most valuable player award. Landry scored 22 points to go with 12 rebounds in the win over Reedley on Friday and averaged 14 points and 6.3 rebounds to help the Knights improve to 4-2 on the season.

Thursday's home opener against Santa Ana was tight throughout with 12 ties and 10 lead changes. The Knights were down one point with less than two minutes left to play, but Vean Gorgees was fouled at the 1:43 mark and hit both free throws to give City a 63-62 lead. After a missed jumper on the other end, Landry scored a layup to extend City's lead to 65-62. 

Santa Ana's Selena Hernandez (29 points) missed 3-point attempt, the Dons were forced to foul LLoyd and she made 1-of-2 free throws with seven seconds remaining to seal the 66-62 win for the Knights.

Lloyd ended up with 13 points and 16 rebounds, while Landry finished with 13 points and five rebounds off the bench. Sarah Henry had 19 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. 

In Friday's game against Reedley, the Knights scored the first seven points of the game and then jumped out to a 25-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. They maintaned that lead through the second and third quarters, but Reedley went on a 14-6 run to cut City's lead down to 63-58 with 8:07 left in the 4th. 

With Reedley fighting to stay in the game, Gorgees knocked down a big 3 with 5:04 on the clock to push the Knights' lead back up to 10. Reedley got within seven again, but this time it was Henry who hit another timely 3 to take the wind out of Reedley's sails. The Knights finished the last four minutes on a 16-4 run to win, 85-66, with Lloyd putting up 19 points and 13 rebounds. Henry added 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists, while Gorgees added 11 points and six boards. Caitlyn McCoy had 10 points and six assists. 

In the final game of the weekend, the Knights had another good start against Cuyamaca as they took a 19-11 lead after the first quarter. The Knights held Cuyamaca to single-digit points in the second and third quarters as they went up by as many as 26 points. 

Lloyd led City offensively with 14 points to go with seven rebounds. Henry recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Gorgees finished with 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists. 

The Knight have one more game before the Thanksgiving break at L.A. Valley on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

All-Tournament Team

MVP: Kaniya Lloyd (SDCC)

Cusha Landry (SDCC)

Lynette Garon (Southwestern)

Monique Carrasco (Imperial Valley)

Antenia Glenn (Cuyamaca)

Sophia Escalante (Santa Ana)

Kailey Lopez (Reedley)