Round one goes to the Raider Gold freshman teams.

Thursday night at the Ninth Grade Academy Gymnasium, the Raider Gold basketball teams earned a sweep in the first installment of the 2009-10 series between the intra-school rivals.

The Raider Gold boys used a 9-0 run opening the fourth quarter to pull away for a 54-39 win, while the Raider Gold girls opened the game with a 6-0 spurt and led wire-to-wire in their 38-22 win.

In the boys game, it was a nail-biter for the first three quarters. The Green team led, 9-8 at the first stop, and the Gold team held a 21-20 advantage at intermission.

Raider Gold began to try to pull away midway through the third period. With about a minute left in the quarter, the Gold led, 34-27.

But the Green team put together a quick 5-0 run to close the period and draw to within a bucket of the Gold squad at 34-32.

With just seven minutes to play, the Gold squad turned up the intensity, going on the aforementioned 9-0 spurt that took up about two minutes. With about five minutes remaining, the Gold team lead was in double digits at 43-32.

The Gold team (4-2) was able to coast to victory from there.

Gold coach Milton Swinnie said he was pleased with the team basketball played by his squad. “Both teams played hard, and I liked the way we played in transition,” Swinnie said.

Swinnie added that he was especially pleased to see his team respond with the early fourth-quarter run, especially after the Green team had put up its own spurt at the end of the third.

“We’ve been on the kids a lot lately, and they responded,” Swinnie said. “We’ll keep improving.”

Robert Williams led the Gold team with 20 points. C.J. Lyons added 13 and Kendo Wallace chipped in with 11.

B.J. Cooke led the Green team with 12 points.

Both teams are idle until after the holidays. The Gold team will host Hoke on Wednesday, Jan. 6, while the Green team entertains Scotland on Thursday, Jan. 7. Both contests are slated for a 6 p.m. tipoff.

Raider Gold girls 38, Raider Green 22

Earlier, the Raider Gold girls (5-1) got excellent play from guards Michelle Covington and Kevyana Standback to down their Raider Green counterparts (4-2).

Standback led all scorers with 14 points, while Covington added 13.

Gold coach Darrell Wright, in addition to singling out the play of his guards, was pleased with the rebounding of Bailey Coulthard, who pulled down 14 boards.

Green coach Phillip Waddell said his team had no answer for the quickness of the Gold team’s guards. “We knew we had to stick with them if we wanted to be successful,” Waddell said.

Charity Waddell led the Green team with six points.

The Gold girls return to action Wednesday, Jan. 6 when they host Hoke, while the Green team hosts Scotland on Thursday, Jan. 7. Both games will tip off at 4:30 p.m.

Contact sports editor David Vantress at 997-3111, ext. 14 or via email at dvantress@yourdailyjournal.com