The motor and spark in Lake City's arsenal

One is the motor, the other the spark plug.

Sometimes together, often times separately, they’re the motor of the Lake City High offense when they’ve got the ball.

And that’s just fine with Whitney Meier and Cierra Dvorak, both three-year varsity players on the state 5A tournament-bound Timberwolves girls basketball team.

Meier, who split time between JV and varsity as a freshman before being varsity only from her sophomore year on, is the starting shooting guard. Dvorak, a reserve point guard, often times enters the game and gets the team on the run.

“I just go out and play, whatever my role is,” Dvorak said. “My job is to go out and play as hard as I can and contribute any way I can.”

Meier leads the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game.

“They’re both very vital to what we do on offense,” fourth-year Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. “Whitney can shoot the ball, and has done that very well her entire career here at Lake City. Having her on the floor makes some teams run some different things, with just her presence on the court. Cierra, her coming off the bench really helps her get focused on what’s going on and happening in the game and she just goes in and does what she does. She’s one of the most athletic girls that we have, and can do a lot of things that most basketball players can’t. She can make things happen. Both of them are huge, and we’ve got eight players that play big minutes. With this team, it doesn’t matter who starts or who finishes, especially with those two. They’ve been best friends for quite a while and they’re best friends off the court.”

Dvorak and Meier played together on AAU teams when they were younger, and were reunited when Dvorak transferred from Mead High in Spokane after her freshman year.

“I’d known Whitney for years and my stepdad lived over here,” Dvorak said. “So I decided to come over here and play.”

“We’ve played together for so long that I really feel comfortable with her on the court,” Meier said. “It’s great having someone like that who I’ve been on the court with so much. It’s awesome because we both know what the other can do on the court.”

This season, Lake City earned a berth in the state 5A tournament for the first time since 2009, and won the Region 1 title for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Dvorak, as a freshman at Mead, played on the Panthers’ state 4A qualifier in 2013.

“Honestly, it’s the best thing ever,” said Dvorak of the state experience. “It’s so fun. I’m excited to go with this team because they’re like my family.”

Lake City (19-4) will open at state on Thursday against Centennial High of Boise at 5:15 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

“We need to make sure we’ve all got the same mindset and focus,” Dvorak said. “We need to stay together as a team and just continue to work hard like we’ve done all season.”

No matter what happens this week, the two already know they’ve got their future pretty well planned out. Both Dvorak and Meier have verbally committed to continue playing basketball at NIC next year.

“Going to NIC saves so much money,” Dvorak said. “And I just think it’s the smarter way to go. We had a chance to go and watch practice and I really like the way they play.”

While Dvorak doesn’t have an idea for major quite yet, she has some things in mind once the time comes.

“I have so many things that I enjoy doing and want to study, but I really won’t know until I get to start thinking about it and doing it,” Dvorak said. “When I get into college, and see and feel how I like my classes, then I’ll know. I’m taking psychology right now and think I might want to do something like that.”

Meier plans on studying zoology.

“I just like animals, specifically zoo animals and always have wanted to study them,” Meier said. “I’ll get my associates degree at NIC, then transfer somewhere else, either Idaho or Central Washington.”

Playing at NIC will reunite Meier with coaches Chris and Carey Carlson, who have coached her on the North Idaho Elite AAU basketball team in recent years.

“I chose to go to NIC probably because I’ve played for them in the past and really like their coaching style,” Meier said. “I still wanted to be at home and it was the cheapest way to go. I really like their style and how they coach.”

For Meier, it’s the realization of a life-long dream.

“Since I was little, I’ve wanted to play college basketball,” Meier said. “But I knew that it would take a lot of hard work and dedication to do it. It makes me feel good that I got it done and I get to continue playing next year.”

“She’s super motivating to be around,” Dvorak said of Meier. “She’s always looking at the best parts of the game. She’s never really that negative and has always been really positive and keeps people fired up. When she starts shooting and hitting shots, it really gets everyone else going.”

So for a team that went 10-12 in 2012-13, then 11-12 the following year and 16-10 in 2014-15, the light definitely went off this year, right?

“Their attitudes have been the best this year,” Kelly said. “Both Whitney and Cierra, they’re both team first. They have great attitudes and really motivated in what they want to do and are very competitive. A lot of the time, they’ve been kind of squirrelly and joked around a lot. This year, they’re really focused and into what we’re doing as a team. They’re ready to go and leaders on and off the court and really motivated to what our team goals are. They’ve been great leaders and students this year. I always hear compliments from teachers about players, but especially these two. They’re great in the classroom and really respectful.”

“Every single one of us works and plays hard,” Dvorak said. “We love playing basketball and work together really well. The five on the court that start are just as good as those players coming off the bench at what we’re trying to do.”

“It’s really exciting,” said Meier of the team’s state berth. “Since I was a freshman here, that’s been the goal. We’ve been talking about making this program better and getting this team to state. Each year, we got closer and closer to that goal. I think we finally realized that we had a chance and could do really well down at state. We just worked hard this summer, during the offseason and saw what we could do.”

This week’s goal is simple really when you ask Meier.

“We’ve got to continue to work hard,” Meier said. “And execute. And that’s about it.”