It’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving – for two months, anyway.

Tonight, two city basketball teams will walk off the floor with bragging rights as Lawrence High and Free State meet in their first boys-girls doubleheader of the 2005-06 season.

The varsity girls tip off at 6 p.m. in the LHS east gym, followed by the boys matchup at 8 p.m.

With the second crosstown matchup not slated until late February, tonight’s winners not only will enjoy an early present to take into the holiday break, but an extended case of yuletide cheer to keep them warm for most of the winter.

“The emotions of this game are so strong,” said LHS boys coach Chris Davis, pointing to a classic two-school showdown that no one else in the Sunflower League currently enjoys. “We have a perfect rivalry – we know exactly who it is, and the schools are just getting after it so often.

“I don’t know how many times that the team that, on paper, should have won, hasn’t won,. It means so much to the kids, that they step up.”

On the proverbial paper, LHS appears to have the edge in tonight’s boys game. The Lions are off to a strong 5-1 start, the lone setback coming Friday in a double-overtime loss at Shawnee Mission Northwest to open the Sunflower League schedule. They also are ranked seventh in the most recent Kansas Basketball Coaches Assn. Class 6A poll.

Meanwhile, Free State limps in with a 1-4 mark, including Friday’s loss on its home floor to Olathe South to open league play. The Firebirds are also short-handed, operating without their leading scorer, senior guard Scott Heitshusen, who also missed last week’s game because of a knee injury.

Davis knows the importance of tonight’s game, not just from an immediate-gratification standpoint, but to build some momentum to carry through the holidays.

“We’d like to go into Christmas 6-1,” Davis said. “Five and two means our last two games are losses, so we go out on a note that isn’t as positive as we’d like it to be.”

A positive vibe is also on the mind of Free State girls coach Bryan Duncan, who brings his ninth-ranked Firebirds into tonight’s contest with a 3-2 record.

Duncan is doing his best to play down the rivalry angle, instead focusing on what a victory – regardless of the opponent – would mean for his squad at this early point of the 2005-06 campaign.

“We’ve had success here before Christmas. We’re getting a little bit of (publicity),” Duncan said. “If we can get one more quality win, it’s a pretty darn successful pre-Christmas run.”

It’s also unconventional. Both of Free State’s losses have come at home, including Friday’s league opener against heavyweight Olathe South. On the flip side, all three victories came on the road in the Bonner Springs Invitational, where the Firebirds secured the program’s first-ever tournament championship.

That formula would seem to bode well for Duncan and his charges tonight as they battle an LHS squad that, while just 2-4 on the season, is 1-0 in league play after tripping up previously unbeaten Shawnee Mission Northwest on Thursday.

“One thing we’ve struggled with is shooting the basketball,” Duncan said. “When you go on the road, in a tough environment like Lawrence High, one thing you’ve got to do is hit some shots.”