FARMINGTON (Fosters.com ) — The Farmington High School girls basketball team is enjoying a refreshing renaissance. Part of that is due to the play of 5-foot-6 all-state junior guard Katie Martineau.

The Tigers went from 2-16 and the bottom of the Division III standings two years ago to 12-8 last year and a berth in the Division IV quarterfinals. Led by Martineau, who is on the verge of scoring 1,000 career points, Farmington earned an opening-round playoff game at home and won the program’s first tournament game in 20 years — 43-36 over Lisbon.

The No. 7 Tigers, who lost in the quarters at No. 2 Colebrook, 84-69, expect to do even better this year.

For that to happen, Martineau will have to continue to excel at both ends of the floor.

“It’s great,” said Martineau, who was second-team all-state last winter, scoring what is believed to be a Farmington girls’ single-season record 507 points (21.1 points per game). “We went from winning almost no games to where we’re towards the top. I think we surprised a lot of people. Working together is what brought us together.”

Honing her game in the offseason has helped Martineau to improve. She has played the past four summers with an AAU team, the New Hampshire Elite, and the first two years her coach was respected former Farmington High boys varsity coach Mike Lee. She has also played summer league with her Farmington team.

Martineau is an opposing coach’s worst nightmare. Not only is she a three-point shooting threat, but she can effectively drive to the basket.

“It’s not often you have a 14 year old have pure, fluid form,” coach Dawn Weeks said of Martineau when she arrived as a freshman. “She is very fluid in her shooting. She is a very smart player.”

Martineau played for the high school JV team as an eighth-grader, so she knew what lay ahead in high school. Farmington was losing and continued to lose her freshman year.

“I was nervous we were going to keep the losing streak going,” she said. Fortunately, the Tigers won a couple games.

It took Martineau half the season to find her groove, but by the second half she was Farmington’s No. 1 scoring threat, averaging 17.6 points per game. Farmington fans were getting a glimpse of what was in store.

AAU basketball was an eye-opener for Martineau. “Well, I learned that there are a lot of people that are better than me. I knew I had to do a lot more in the offseason to get better.”

She worked hard. She got better. “A lot of my driving and my moves have come from the New Hampshire Elite,” she said. “It’s really helped me become a driver and shooter at the same time.”

While the first part of her freshman year was a struggle, Martineau credits teammate Gillian Kobbe and coach Weeks with helping to boost her confidence when she was feeling low. “They’d tell me I’m good and calm me down a bit.”

Then last year the worm turned. After going 6-48 the previous three seasons, Farmington found its groove. The Tigers started 1-3 but won 10 of their next 14 to end at 11-7 and earn the No. 7 seed in the D-IV tournament.

Lisbon was the first-round opponent, but Farmington, including Martineau, had a very rough first half. The Tigers trailed 13-10 at the break.

“Dawn said ‘Look at the stands,’” Martineau recalled. “It was packed. At that moment we all came together and the magic started happening.”

Magic and Martineau.

Held to three points in the first half, Martineau sprung loose for 21 of Farmington’s 33 second-half points to end with 24, leading the Tigers to a 43-36 win.

The run ended in the quarters at Colebrook, a tough northern school, where Martineau still flourished in a hostile environment with 28 points.

Now the Tigers, with a deep, veteran team, are prepared to make an even deeper run, possibly to the final four where a Farmington team hasn’t advanced since 1989.

In addition to Martineau, Farmington has two other impact junior guards in Shannon Kobbe and Tatyana Long; four solid senior forwards in Kristina Radcliffe, Erryn Ebare, Cynthia Langley and Kendra Demary, another solid junior forward Brianna DiPrizio, quick sophomore guard Jill Stevens and versatile 5-foot-10 freshman Chloe Weeks, the coach’s daughter.

They open the season Friday night at Lisbon.

If there is a knock on Martineau, it’s that she’s too hard on herself when something doesn’t go quite according to plan, like missing shots.

“She’s a perfectionist,” coach Weeks said. “I feel as though I say it once a day: ‘Get over it. You’re not going to make 100 percent of your shots. It’s unrealistic. Just keep shooting.’ She just needs to be realistic in her expectations. Not that you don’t want every player to want that.”

Martineau has scored 877 career points, which means she could break the 1,000-point barrier at home during the annual Farmington Christmas tournament later this month.

If and when she does, she will join Julie Gagne (1990), Kristy Woodill (1996) and Tabby Whitehouse (2010) as the only Farmington girls to reach that milestone.

It’s something that has been a goal for Martineau since she was young.

“I was there when Tabby got hers,” Martineau said. “Seeing her get hers and the gym packed, it’s just something I really want to experience myself.”

She’ll also have the chance to break the girls career scoring record held by Gagne (1,432 points), which could even happen this season.

More importantly, the Tigers should be a contender, which makes the low-key Martineau offer a brief smile.

“No one expected us to be here (last year),” she said. “People have always said, ‘Oh, it’s Farmington ...’ Now that we’re turning it around, everyone’s supporting us and our town’s coming together. Everyone is just really excited to see us play.”