Reedsport’s Tailor Nunn passes the ball around Amanda Hagemeister of Taft during the second half of their game Friday in Reedsport during the Dune Country Classic tournament. The Braves advanced to tonight’s championship game. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

Reedsport’s girls advanced to the championship game of the 37th-annual Dune Country Classic by dominating Taft 53-16 in the opening round Friday.

The Braves led 27-4 at halftime after shutting out the Tigers in the second quarter.

Chelsea Hitchcock had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Braves, who meet Toledo in the championship game today. Freshman Eden Huebner added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Hitchcock had nine of her points in the second quarter, when Reedsport outscored Taft 15-0.

She had her best offensive game since moving to point guard in place of Jessica Cooper, who is out until mid-January after dislocating her elbow.

“Chelsea hasn’t been shooting all that well, so that was good for her,” Reedsport coach Lynn Fulps said.

Ashley Taylor had eight points for Taft.

The Braves got their first win of the season.

“The kids played OK,” Fulps said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

Toledo 49, Yoncalla 43

The Boomers outscored the Eagles in every quarter to pull out the narrow victory.

Lindsey Grove had 11 points to lead Toledo, while Cassie Thompson had eight and Sara Humphrey seven.

Shelby Gilpin had three 3-pointers and a team-high 19 points for Yoncalla, while Amanda Thorp added 12 points. Hayley Reynolds had nine points and four steals.

BOYS

Taft 56, Reedsport 51

Taft used lights-out shooting from 3-point range to beat Reedsport 56-51 in the first round of the tournament.

Kyle Hindman made all four of his 3-point attempts and Ian Hathaway went 2-for-3 as the Tigers shot 7-for-10 as a team from long range.

Ryan Willoughby led Taft with 16 points, while Hindman scored 15 and Hathaway 10.

Sean Horton had three 3-pointers in the first quarter and led the Braves with 16 points. Ismael Osorio added 13 and Jeff Wilmarth 12.

“The kids played really hard,” said Reedsport coach James Hixenbaugh. “We had a couple of unforced errors late in the second half.”

The Braves were fighting from behind the entire way and never could catch up, Hixenbaugh said, adding that Taft’s outside shooting hurt Reedsport’s hopes.

“Seven 3s — who does that?” he said.

Taft will face Toledo in the championship game tonight, while Reedsport battles Yoncalla for the consolation title.

Toledo 50, Yoncalla 31

The Boomers overcame a slow start by outscoring the Eagles 35-17 over the middle two quarters.

Kamron Sjostrom and Chase Kinion each scored 15 points for Toledo, while Kyle Oleman added 11. Kinion had six of the Boomers’ 16 steals, while Sjostrom had eight rebounds.

Colton Kingery had seven points to lead Yoncalla.

The Dune Country Classic is one of the oldest annual tournaments in Oregon.

The tournament continues today with the girls consolation game between Yoncalla and Taft tipping off at noon, followed by the boys consolation game at 1:45 p.m., the girls championship game at 3:30 and the boys championship game at 5:15.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.