By Ben Destefan
Posted Mar. 10, 2016 at 10:30 AM

It’s been an amazing two-year run. Well, actually three if you’re only counting wins and losses.

While last night’s season-ending defeat is entirely too fresh, there will come a time when this group of ladies — specifically Hannah Crist, Meghan Hirneisen and Jenay Faulkner — will realize how they transcended Greencastle-Antrim girls’ basketball.

Faulkner still has one more winter ahead of her at G-A, when she will almost certainly become the program’s all-time leading scorer, sitting just 56 points shy of tying Kylene Helman’s mark of 1,420. For Crist and Hirneisen, Wednesday evening served as a farewell to a pair of tremendous careers.

“These seniors are some of the best girls you could ever ask for,” said head coach Mike Rhine following the 39-22 loss to Gwynedd-Mercy. “It’s tough because you don’t want it to end.”

Neither did we.

It dawned on me this past weekend when I was more than 2,000 miles away in Las Vegas.

I do like to live a little. Hence, the trip.

Still, doing what most around-30 year-olds do in Sin City, I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I wasn’t in Scranton for Saturday’s first round of states.

Maybe it’s a pride thing. Or even a dedication thing. But when you’ve covered a program that’s evolved from afterthought to perennial power, you want to be there during the biggest moments.

More importantly, you want to witness something special.

Fortunately, the Blue Devils put together a scintillating comeback against Scranton Prep to earn one more game, giving me time to return for a final go-round.

It’s weird, but the only thing I told photographer Bob Stoler before I left was I wanted to cover the last game of this incredible journey, whenever it was going to be.

There’s more to come, but these past two seasons have set the bar extremely high.

What summed it up was when a fellow reporter sitting beside me yesterday evening asked, “Are they a public school?” Translation: I’m surprised a small public school is still playing this far into March.

My answer? “Yeah, and they also made it to the second round last year.”

Because winning has become so routine — going a combined 71-11 the last three seasons — I’m really not sure the Blue Devils truly understand what they’ve accomplished.

Aside from clinching back-to-back trips to states, G-A won a third straight Mid-Penn Colonial Division crown, returned to Hershey’s Giant Center for the District 3 semifinals and had not one, but two 1,000-point scorers.

Trust me, countless programs would trade places in the blink of an eye.

For the Blue Devils, however, the standard was competing for a state title. Not bad considering G-A went a mere 11-11 just four winters ago.

Crist has been a staple throughout the rise, finishing as the third leading girls’ scorer in school history with 1,244 points. Hirneisen’s ever-increasing role exemplified her team-first mentality, acting as a vital piece during her final two seasons.

Both will be severely missed, but also remembered alongside the likes of Chloe Hoover, Katie Gelsinger and Jane Herman for elevating G-A girls’ basketball to heights once viewed unreachable.