AMHERST - When Xin Xin Tarren heard teammate Victoria Stewart wasn't suiting up for Tuesday night's game against West Springfield, the Amherst Regional sophomore point guard knew she might see some extra time on the court.

She was right. While Tarren began the game on the bench, she ended up playing extensively and was a key to her team's 55-50 victory over the Terriers on both sides of the court.

"It was pretty scary because we knew this team was going to be hard," said Tarren, who found out after the school day ended that Stewart would not play because of a back injury. "I thought about (the likelihood of having to play more) since I usually go in for Vic" off the bench.

Tarren scored a career-high eight points and spent much of the game defending Terriers star guard Dana Theobald, one of the state's top scorers.

"I tried to pressure her, but I also didn't want her to be able to get by me," Tarren said. "I know she doesn't like to go left, so I tried to force her that way, but she's so good, she was still able to beat me to the right a lot. I tried the best I could and I knew I had my teammates behind me to help when I needed it."

Theobald, who is headed to Division I Boston University next season, scored a season-high 30 points. But Tarren's play kept the West Side (8-2) offense from ever getting in sync as Amherst (8-1) forced 22 turnovers, which led to 14 fast-break points.

"Dana is a great, great player," Hurricanes coach Christal Murphy said. "She's going to get her points. She's going to score, but it's important to make her work for every point. I thought she had to work extremely hard for every point that she got."

Tarren also finished with six rebounds and two steals.

Amherst senior Brianna Leonard said Tarren's teammates had seen that level of defensive determination every day in practice.

"Xin Xin played so many minutes on (Theobald) and she did a great job," Leonard said. "We know she always works as hard as she can. She gives 110 percent. She did what she was supposed to do, and she played great."

Murphy said she wasn't sure if Stewart, one of the team's standout seniors and its starting point guard, will be ready for Friday night's game at undefeated Holyoke.

Leonard, who guarded Theobald early before fouls forced Murphy to make the change to Tarren, did a bit of everything for the Hurricanes.

Leonard handled the bulk of the point guard duties, led the team with 21 points and had five assists and three steals.

"We knew everyone had to step up. When someone's hurt, we know we have the capability of stepping up," said Leonard, who has scored 63 points in the last three games and is averaging 15.8 points per game this season. "Xin Xin, Elena (Valenzuela-Stookey) and Sarah (Mangels) all did a great job. They played great defense. That's just what we needed."

Kristen Ferola, meanwhile, matched a career-high with 20 points for Amherst to go with five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

West Springfield erased a 45-32 deficit in the fourth quarter. Theobald scored 11 of her 30 over a 4-minute, 19-second span and eventually evened the game at 50-50 with a pair of free throws with 1:04 left.

Leonard answered with a 3-pointer from the left baseline to give the Hurricanes a 53-50 lead.

"It was just so intense at that moment and I was thinking we had to win it," Tarren said. "We had to win it. We pulled it all together and got it done."

After a timeout taken by the Terriers, Theobald and Ferola battled for the inbounds pass. Theobald was whistled for her fifth foul with 30.2 seconds left.

The teams traded possession before Ferola iced the game with a pair of free throws with 6.1 seconds left.

"It was a great win against a great team," Murphy said. "They are very well coached and talented."

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.