STATE 5A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Meier was on fire

NAMPA — Shooters shoot.

And did Whitney Meier ever shoot the ball in her final high school game for the Lake City Timberwolves, sparking them to a 68-42 win over Madison of Rexburg in the state 5A girls basketball consolation championship game on Saturday at Skyview High.

“We’ve always known she can shoot,” Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said of Meier, who finished the game with a career-high 34 points, hitting 12 of 20 shots, including 7 of 12 from beyond the 3-point line. “All the teams up north know she can shoot and that’s what she does. I had a feeling she’d come out in her last game of her career and light it up. She was bound and determined. Those seniors came in my freshman year and they were determined to get here and they deserve it.”

Meier scored 15 of her 34 points in the first half, pushing Lake City out to a 25-18 halftime lead. After the half, it was a whole new ballgame for the Timberwolves, who outscored Hillcrest 43-24 in the second half.

“It was a crazy feeling,” said Meier, who along with senior teammate Cierra Dvorak plan to continue their basketball careers at North Idaho College. “In warmups, I was just kind of feeling good and I knew it was going to be a good game. I just went out and did what I could do.”

After struggling in games in the spacious Ford Idaho Center on Thursday and Friday, Meier said those feelings were long gone once back in a true gym setting.

“I just felt more comfortable here than at the Idaho Center,” Meier said. “There’s actual walls and the floor is a lot different, which really helped me feel more comfortable.”

With 3:42 remaining in the third quarter, Lake City — leading at that time 50-29 — shot a succession of six free throws, two on a personal foul and four more on technical fouls by Madi Biddulph of Hillcrest and Hillcrest coach Cody Jackson to stretch the advantage to 55-29.

Junior Nina Carlson had 11 points and five rebounds and sophomore Keara Simpson had seven points and seven rebounds for Lake City, which finishes 21-5 in its first appearance at state since 2009, when the T-Wolves also won the consolation title.

“There’s three 5A teams that win their last game of the season,” Kelly said. “Let’s be one of them. We continued to get better each day. We had a hiccup that first round (a 41-32 loss to Centennial), but we responded and played two really good games.”

Lake City graduates five seniors — Meier, Dvorak, Olivia Maryon, Kate Maryon and Madi Vershum — from this year’s team.

“It means everything to us,” Meier said. “We’ve been working toward this for the last four years and I’m glad this happened in our senior year.”

“We just shut them down offensively,” said Olivia Maryon, who had six assists and three rebounds. “We talked, which is one of our big things on defense. We stopped the players we needed to do. It was disappointing to lose on Thursday, but in the end, we realize that we’re a team and we wanted to bring home something. Fourth place is still great, and I’m really proud of this entire team that we were able to stick together and find a way to get it done.”

Lindsay Cook, a 6-foot senior post, had 29 points for Hillcrest, which finishes 22-3.

“I thought both Lauren (Rewers) and Keara (Simpson) did a good job on her, but she’s a good player,” said Kelly, in his fourth season as Lake City coach. “She’s kind of their motor and we did a good job of containing her. Our guards did a great job of handling their pressure and did a good job of getting the ball up the court. We did what we wanted to do on offense and knocked some shots down.”

With that goal of bringing a third plaque on the wall of the school’s trophy case after winning league and regional titles, Lake City also received the sportsmanship award before the game, giving them four pieces of hardware from the season.

“They deserve it,” Kelly said. “They’re a great group of kids. It’s great group of girls. Great group of parents and great kids in the band. They deserve it. It’s well deserving because they’re all high quality human beings.”

Lake City 20 5 21 22 — 68

Hillcrest 7 11 9 15 — 42

LAKE CITY — Barber 0, Dvorak 5, Carlson 11, K. Maryon 0, Rieken 6, Vershum 0, Teets 2, Rewers 1, O. Maryon 0, Zufelt 0, Meier 34, Halliday 0, Nelson 0, Simpson 7. Totals 24-54 12-25 68.

HILLCREST — Stenquist 0, Baldwin 2, Kirkham 1, Wood 2, Sargent 1, Youngberg 0, Hebdon 1, Jones 2, Brooks 0, Adamson 0, Cook 29, Biddulph 5. Totals 11-44 20-26 42.