Victoria Stewart had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists as the Amherst girls basketball team moved within a win of being able to defend their Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament championship with a 59-39 victory over Agawam Tuesday night.

Brianna Leonard also had 16 points, while Forbasaw Nkamebo had 12 points for the Hurricanes (9-2, 1-0 Suburban), which led 22-6 after the first quarter.

The Hurricanes couldn't finish off an impressive three-game trifecta on Jan. 20.

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.

Boys basketball

Aided by several clutch free throws down the stretch, the Hurricanes overpowered the Spartans 50-48 in Suburban League action Monday. Tchuijo Nkamebo and Tyler Peake iced the win for Amherst by connecting from the charity stripe late in the game.

Nkamebo (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Norris Cuevas-Nova (18 points, 14 rebounds) each had double-doubles. Cuevas-Nova also had four steals.

Hockey

Corey Deres scored two goals, including the game winner, as the Hurricanes beat Easthampton 4-3 Saturday at Orr Rink in Amherst.

Deres also added two assists for the Hurricanes (4-6-1, 1-1 Fay). Joseph Gazaille and Jason Sloat each scored once, while Luke Allen had two assists in the win.

Ben Thompson made 28 saves for his first career victory.

Indoor track

The Amherst girls 4x800 relay team of Mel Devoney, Sara Vannah, Anna Kaplan and Audrey Gould placed third in 10 minutes, 26.6 seconds at a meet held Tuesday at Smith College.

The mark lowered their qualifying time for the state Division 2 meet.

Audrey Gould was second in the mile, while Mel Devoney was second in the 2-mile in the Hurricanes' 62-33 loss to Northampton on Jan. 20.

Emma Biggs won the 300.

James Traester won the 2-mile to pace the boys team to a 48-47 win over Northampton on Jan. 20.

Nordic skiing

The boys team finished fourth with a score of 77 in the Berkshire League meet Saturday at Notchview Reservation in Windsor.

Sidney Field finished in third place overall with a time of 18 minutes, 2 seconds for the Hurricanes.

Steven Kalt finished 19th with a time of 21:26.

The girls finished in sixth place with 96 points. The Hurricanes' top finisher was Tulsa Douglas, who finished in 23rd place.

Alpine skiing

Jon Simonds finished 10th overall on the giant slalom with a time of 27.55 seconds at Tuesday's PVIAC meet at Berkshire East in Charlemont. Amherst came in fourth in the North division.

Greg Lerner was 10th on the slalom in 39.37 as the Hurricanes placed sixth at Berkshire East on Jan. 19.