QUINCY — It’s been a pretty incredible four years for Cori Kastel, the coach of the Manchester High School girls basketball team. Since taking over before the 2006-07 season, she’s seen a steady and pleasantly surprising increase in talent and stability in the program.

And she has experienced all of it — including the end of the era, with Thursday night's 58-54 loss to Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central — with the eight-member senior class.

“They’ve just been so dedicated to the program,” Kastel said. “Workouts and offseason stuff and everything else. And that’s the kind of people you want leading your team and your younger players. … Over the last four years, they’ve really raised the expectations of the program, and hopefully we can continue that next season.”

The seniors hung out in the Quincy High School gym — which looks straight out of the movie Hoosiers, with its ancient brick walls and tall, arching wooden ceiling — well after the Class C regional title game was over and St. Mary’s celebration had ceased, crying, hugging and, eventually, smiling and reminiscing about the last four seasons.

More coverage: This Story on MLive.com | Boxscore | Class C Bracket

Before the outgoing seniors helped turn around the program, the Flying Dutchmen had hit something of a rough patch. They hadn’t won a district championship since 1998 and had never won a regional title.

Manchester broke the districts streak this season and came within four points of moving on to the quarterfinals.

“We knew we had the potential for this kind of run at the beginning of the season,” Kastel said. “But we had some really unfortunate injuries — an ACL injury and a concussion — but I’m proud of how we rebounded. People stepped up, and we improved every game, we hit our stride at the right time.”

And example No. 1 of a player stepping up — senior Stephanie Ball, one of the players that have been with Kastel for her entire tenure.

Ball finished with 15 points, including four 3-pointers in the second half that kept Manchester hanging with the stout St. Mary team.

But it’s about more than production with Ball, Kastel said.

“I trust her so much, and the comfort level is there,” Kastel said. “She knows exactly what I’m thinking in every situation. Tonight, when the crowd got really loud, I didn’t even have to worry about calling in a play, because I knew that she knew exactly what needed to be run.

“She puts the team on her shoulder, and tonight she dragged us along with her. I squeezed every second I could out of her tonight. She got one rest and then it was right back out there.”

Kastel said that, with Ball, it’s almost like having an assistant coach on the bench at all times. She even said that, if Ball ever expressed interest, she would be happy to have her come back and help out with the team in the future.

But even Ball’s performance wasn’t enough. After jumping out to a 12-4 lead in the first quarter, freshman McKenn Erkfritz and senior Emily Werner, who combined to grab 18 boards, both got in foul trouble in the second.

With the post presence that those two provide missing, St. Mary pounced, scoring 23 points in the second quarter and going into halftime with the lead.

Manchester clawed back, but several key turnovers in the fourth quarter ended their upset bit. And with the win, the Kestrels will play Niles Brandywine in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.