PATCHOGUE — After sweeping through Class D in the regular season and earning the Section IX Championship, the Eldred Lady Yellowjackets traveled to St. Joseph’s University on Tuesday evening to square off against Smithtown Christian, the Section XI Class D Champions, in the first round of the State Tournament.

The game started slow for the Lady Yellowjackets, scoring just four points in the opening quarter and finding themselves down 12-4.

After anticipating a man-to-man defense, the Yellowjackets were caught off guard by Smithtown Christian’s 1-3-1 zone.

“We watched many of their games and practiced accordingly. In every game we watched they played a man-to-man defense, but on Tuesday night they came out with a 1-3-1 and we had to switch our offense to play against that,” Eldred Coach June Hallock said. 

The adjustment took a while to take effect, and by halftime Eldred found themselves trailing 30-13.

Down 17 at the break, the Lady Yellowjackets made some changes and came out swinging in the third.

Eldred outscored Smithtown Christian 17-8 in the third quarter, cutting into the lead and heading into the fourth trailing by single digits at 38-30.

In the fourth, however, Eldred’s offense struggled to keep the momentum going, scoring just four points in the final frame as Smithtown scored 13 and earned the 51-34 victory.

“I’m very proud of my Lady Yellowjackets,” Hallock said. “We came a long way with only 6-7 players and became Section IX Champions. They played their hearts out every game and I couldn’t be more pleased. We’re looking forward to next year.”

Olivia Gonzalez led the way with 18 of Eldred’s 34 points. Smithtown was paced by Annalyn Loiacono and Bryn Jannson with 25 and 18 points respectively.