Jade Farquhar never imagined herself as a basketball player of the year.

As a matter of fact, for a long time, Farquhar never even imagined herself as a basketball player.But in the span of just four years, Farquhar's basketball trajectory has soared.The Palmerton High School junior has gone from a basketball nobody to a basketball player that nobody can stop.This past season, the 5-10 Farquhar did it all for the Blue Bombers playing everywhere from point guard to the post, guarding the opposition's best player, and leading the team in virtually every statistical category.Farquhar's individual numbers played a huge role in the Bombers compiling a 15-8 record this season. The combination of individual and team success earned Farquhar the 2014 TIMES NEWS Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award.Quite an accomplishment for someone who as recently as seventh grade couldn't even find her way into the starting lineup for her "in-house" team and barely survived the cut for her "travel" team."I was a terrible basketball player," laughed Farquhar. "I really mean it. I was pretty tall in sixth and seventh grade, but I had no basketball skills."I couldn't even start for our in-house team in Palmerton. I was one of the last ones off the bench."It was at that point that Farquhar gave serious consideration to giving up the sport."I thought about quitting many times," she said. "But my mom and dad pushed me to start working on my game, and eventually I began to improve."The first step in the process came in the form of a travel team in the Lehigh Valley."I tried out for the team in seventh grade, and I'm sure the only reason they kept me was because of my height," said Farquhar said.While height might have been her saving grace that season, Farquhar's newfound dedication to the sport made sure she wouldn't have to flirt with the cut line again."During my middle school years, I started going to clinics and camps and playing basketball every chance I got," Farquhar said. "What they say is true, the more you put into a sport, the more you get out of it."I went from really not caring a lot about basketball to absolutely loving the game. By the time I tried out for the same travel team in eighth grade, I not only made the team, I was starting. I guess our coach was pretty surprised by my improvement. He actually told me that the year before, I would have been the next cut. So basically I went from last person on the team to one of the best players in just one year."That improvement continued to accelerate when Farquhar reached high school. A three-year starter, Farquhar will enter her senior campaign with 900 career points. This past season, she led Palmerton in points (366), scoring average (15.9), free throws attempted (85), free throws made (68), free throw percentage (80%), rebounds (115), assists (91), and steals (56). She was also second on the team in both three-pointers (24) and blocked shots (46)."Not only is Jade an incredibly hard worker, but she is the ultimate team player," said Palmerton coach Rodney Strohl. "She never worried about her points or her stats. All she cared about was helping the team win."If that meant playing point guard, she did that. If we needed her underneath the basket, she played there. She is obviously a great scorer, but she is also the best passer on the team. This year, she wanted to be a better defensive player, and she improved so much in that area that she usually watched the other team's best player. She really is a coach's dream."With the type of success that Farquhar enjoyed this season, it would have been easy for her to sit back and rest on her laurels. But she actually did just the opposite."I think I've played basketball every day since the season ended," Farquhar said. "I'm traveling to Philadelphia three days a week to practice and play with an AAU team that has some incredibly talented girls on it, so that can't help but make me a better player. Then, when I'm not going down there to play, I make sure I get out to work on my skills."Strohl isn't surprised."She's a gym rat," he said. "She is always working on improving her game."She has the perfect combination of physical ability, great basketball instincts and an outstanding work ethic."With another year of high school ball in front of her, Farquhar is already being contacted by college coaches."My dream is to play Division I ball," Farquhar said. "If you told me four years ago that I would be saying that one day I would have never believed it."But it's exciting to think that it's now a possibility. It just goes to show that hard work really does pay off."That hard work has transformed a middle school reserve into a high school star.It's something that no one especially Farquhar herself could have ever imagined just a few short years ago.