BY ANTHONY STEVENS bdtonline.com
BRISTOL, Va. — For the last three years there has always been one constant in the Lebanon girls lineup. Thursday night was no different.
Senior Hannah Cox torched the nets for 29 points to lead Lebanon to a 54-36 victory over Graham to advance Lebanon to tonight’s semifinals of Virginia High’s Tip-Off Classic.
Cox not only led her team to a win, but she achieved quite a career goal. Cox reached the 1,000 point plateau for her career.
“This feels great,” said Cox. “I was hoping to get it my first game (a loss to Wise County Central) but that was a rough game. I came out tonight focused.
“I want to give God all the glory and honor for blessing me with the talent.”
Cox finished with 18 points in the first half to propel the Pioneers to a 34-11 lead at intermission.
“We wanted to get off to a good start,” Lebanon coach Rex Parker said. “Hannah played well. We played good D and kept their big girl away from the basket.
“In the second half when Graham went zone we got happy with the 3s, we didn’t work it inside as much as we needed to and just about let them back in it. Give Graham credit they fought all the way until the end.”
Dejah Carter the 6-foot-3 post for the G-Women was held to only two points for the first 16 minutes, but scored 15 points in the second half as Graham (2-1) kept pounding it inside against Lebanon’s 2-3 zone. Lexi Kiser was solid with 13 points.
“I’ve been preaching it a lot, get the ball inside,” Graham coach Chris Southcott said. “Hopefully we’ll start looking to get it inside and Dejah will put it in the basket.
“The girls didn’t give up, they kept playing hard. We hope to do that all year, keep playing hard and see what happens.”
Cox also led the Pioneers with nine rebounds and on defense had three steals. Taylor Woodlief also had a big game with 13 points. Lebanon (1-1) shot the ball well, making 21-of-46 shots shooting 46 percent.
It will be a familiar foe in the semis tonight when Lebanon battles Castlewood. It’s definite, one team from Russell County will be in the finals.
“I haven’t seen Castlewood play,” Parker said. “I know they run up and down and press all over the floor. Going by their scores, they are playing as well as anyone in southwest Virginia.”
Graham will play defending 1A state champion Chilhowie on Saturday.

LEBANON (54)
Stanley 0 0-4 0, Stinson 3 0-1 6, Woodlief 5 0-0 13, Cox 10 5-8 29, Farmer 2 0-0 4, Burke 0 0-0 0, Brooks 1 0-0 2, Cantrell 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-13 54.
GRAHAM (36)

Kiser 4 3-8 13, Webb 0 0-0 0, Day 0 0-0 0, Spencer 1 0-2 3, Carter 7 3-10 17, Hagermon 0 0-0 0, Vance 1 1-2 3, Rife 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 7-22 36.
Lebanon..........................11 23 9 11 — 54
Graham..............................5 6 9 16 — 36
3-point goals – Lebanon 7 (Cox 4, Woodlief 3), Graham 3 (Kiser 2, Spencer 1). Total fouls – Lebanon 17, Graham 13. Fouled out – Stinson. Technicals – none.