HOLYOKE - The Amherst Regional girls basketball team couldn't finish off an impressive three-game trifecta Friday night.

Facing their third Division 1 title contender in as many games, the Hurricanes scored just three points in the final 5 minutes, 48 seconds and lost to Holyoke 46-43.

"Our defense was pretty good. We held them to 46 points," senior point guard Victoria Stewart said. "We need to score more on offense. We definitely have to step it up. We aren't going to win against a good team if we only score 43 points."

Amherst (8-2) beat rival Northampton (7-3) on Jan. 12 and then handed West Springfield (9-2) its first loss of the season to a western Mass. team on Monday.

But despite the return of Stewart, who missed the West Side game with a back injury, the Hurricanes couldn't hand the Purple Knights (12-0) their first loss of the season.

"We've had to really be mentally tough this last week or so," Amherst coach Christal Murphy said. "Every day our girls just show up ready to go. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Amherst trailed 38-32 early in the fourth quarter, but erased the deficit when Brianna Leonard sandwiched 3-pointers around a Stewart layup for a 40-38 lead with 5:48 remaining.

But the Hurricanes couldn't get anything to fall down the stretch, allowing Holyoke to go on a 7-0 run that included fast-break baskets by Monique Heard (10 points) and Kirsy Segarra (five points).

Kristen Ferola knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 45-43 with 26.1 seconds left.

Amherst had to give three fouls before finally getting Holyoke into the bonus and sent Leshawanda Underwood to the line, where she made one free throw for a 46-43 lead with 7.9 seconds left.

The Hurricanes couldn't get a shot off before the final buzzer.

"It's not like we wanted to lose, but this will make us work harder," Stewart said. Holyoke "is more of a second-half team and we need to build up our second-half play. We need to be better" after halftime.

The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for Amherst, which last fell 46-41 at home against East Longmeadow on Dec. 21.

"We've hit game 10, so now we are going to start working more on a lot of the small things," said Murphy, whose team reached the state title game last year. "Our conditioning will come. I have seen improvement over the last 10 games and that's all I can ask for."

Leonard led all scorers with 14 points to go with nine rebounds. Stewart added 13 points, eight steals and five assists in her return, while Ferola had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

"It was the same old Vic," Murphy said of Stewart's play. "She worked really hard for us."

Amherst spent much of its defensive energy getting the ball out of Heard's hands. Holyoke's standout point guard, who won multiple western Massachusetts player of the year awards as a junior, was limited to 10 points, but got enough help from Alison Littles (11 points) and Nyomi Walker (10) for the win in a low-scoring game. Holyoke matched a season-low 46 points.

"If the ball is in (Heard's) hands, they can score much easier. You have to rotate really well. We did a good job of it in the second quarter, but we didn't really rotate in the third and fourth and that was a problem."

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