The Richmond Gold freshmen girls basketball team didn’t look like a squad that hadn’t played in a week.

The Gold team came out sharp in the opening quarter, taking a 16-2 lead. The Raiders went on to rout Scotland 45-17 Tuesday afternoon at the Ninth Grade Academy Gymnasium.

The victory was the Gold team’s third win in a row, and Richmond improved its record to 10-3 on the season. Michelle Covington paced the Gold team with a season-high 20 points, while Kevyna Stanback scored 12 points.

Richmond’s hounding defense forced the Lady Scots into committing eight first quarter turnovers, which turned into several transition baskets. Covington scored eight of her 20 points in the first and her fastbreak layup with 14 second remaining gave the Gold team a 14-point cushion going into the second.

“The girls did a good job of getting out in transition,” Gold team girls coach Darrell Wright said. “We had seven fast break baskets in the first, which allowed us to take control of the game.”

The Gold team extended the lead to 25-6 at halftime as Scotland was limited to four points in the second. Richmond was able to hold the Lady Scots to single digits in all four quarters, taking a 25-point advantage at 38-13 into the fourth.

The Gold freshmen girls basketball team return to action at Hoke Monday with tipoff slated for 4:30 p.m. Scotland plays at Lumberton on Thursday.

Scotland 47, Richmond Gold 27

Richmond’s freshmen boys basketball teams couldn’t match up with Scotland this season.

The Scots defeated the Green team 31-27 back on Jan. 7 and finished the sweep of both Raiders’ ninth grade squads by cruising past the Gold team 47-27 Tuesday night.

The loss dropped Richmond’s record to 6-5, while the Scots remained perfect on the season with a 11-0 mark.

“Scotland is a very good athletic team and they just out-hustled us,” Gold team boys coach Milton Swinnie said.

“They ran the floor well, blocked a lot of our shots and out-rebounded us.”

The Scots led wire-to-wire, taking a 12-6 lead after the first quarter.

Artemus Robinson, who scored eight of his game-high 13 points for Scotland in the first half, converted a layup to push the lead to 19-8 with 3:36 remaining in the quarter.

The Scots took a 23-14 advantage into the locker room.

“We had four guys out due to injuries and other issues,” Scots coach Jackie Amos said. “The guys knew they had to elevate their level of play. Even though we struggled offensively, I thought we played with a lot of intensity on defense.”

The closest the Gold team came was within seven at 27-20 on Kendo Wallace’s 3-pointer with 4:15 left in the third.

But Scotland scored the next six out of eight points to take a 33-22 advantage into the fourth. The Scots outscored Richmond 14-5 in the final period to win by 20. C.J. Lyons was the only Gold team member in double figures with 12 points.

The Gold boys basketball team return to action at South View Thursday with tipoff at 4:30 p.m.

Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com