Rachel Leggett, Janelle Jones return to Pensacola with South Alabama women's basketball

The Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball championships served as a homecoming on Tuesday.

Now playing at the University of South Alabama, Navarre’s Rachel Leggett and Booker T. Washington’s Janelle Jones got to play in front of a hometown crowd at the Pensacola Bay Center during the first round of the championship.

Even though the 14th-seeded Jaguars fell to No. 11 Coastal Carolina, ending South Alabama’s season with a 9-23 record, both Leggett and Jones stood out with quality minutes for the team out of Mobile.

And both players, according to first-year head coach Yolisha Jackson, brought good support systems for a hometown crowd.

“These young women work their asses off. They deserve to play in front of really good crowds that love women’s basketball, that support them day in and day out. I’ve challenged my staff and myself to make sure that as we grow the environment as South Alabama, that in March of 2025 and March of 2026, that we have more of a fanbase that shows up for our games just an hour away. Things started to happen this year,” Jackson said. “To be this close to Mobile, with everything Pensacola has to offer – and to see the crowd that we brought today – I get excited about doing my job, making sure these young women are supported and loved in Mobile and in Pensacola.”

Leggett finished Tuesday’s game with a team-high 21 points, going 8-for-14 from the field with five free throws. She added five rebounds, tied for second-best on the team.

The sophomore played 36 minutes after being subbed out early in the third quarter due to foul trouble after her third foul. But once she checked back in a few minutes later, Leggett never left the court.

“She’s been absolutely phenomenal for us all season long. She started off nonconference really hot, hit a little low where she was not quite connecting and people were trying to shade her left hand,” Jackson said of Leggett. “Then all of a sudden, she was like, ‘I got it. I’m gone. I’m good.’ Moving forward, I’m really, really excited about everything she’s going to be able to do individually and helping out our team moving forward.”

Leggett played in 30 games as a sophomore, starting in 28 of them, averaging 29.1 minutes per game. She scored 313 points on the year, and far surpassed her average 10.4 points per game on Tuesday. It’s a dramatic increase from her 25 games played last season, scoring just 54 points.

Leggett finished the year third on the team in points, trailing Kelsey Thompson’s 335 points and Jordan Rosier’s 329 points.

Jackson said when the new South Alabama coaching staff arrived in April, they were impressed with Leggett’s “athletic” ability – and the work that she’s put in every day since then.

Jackson joked that people probably didn’t know who Leggett was last season. But the Pensacola area wasn’t unfamiliar with the former Navarre star. After starting to play organized basketball her sophomore year of high school, Leggett scored more than 1,000 points in just two-and-a-half seasons for the Raiders. She was a two-time PNJ Player of the Year, leading Navarre to back-to-back District 1-6A championships.

“Rachel, every single day, is doing something for basketball. Whether it’s grabbing our (graduate assistant) and getting up extra shots, shooting free throws, taking care of her body with coach (Berron) Tyson, endless workouts with Coach (Colby) Davis and Coach (Brooke) LeMar. Rachel, every day, she does something. … She was watching film yesterday before we left,” Jackson said. “Every single day she has done something since we got there as a staff, to be a better basketball player. And it shows.”

Jones played a little bit in the first half, then subbed back in the third quarter – and never left afterward. While Jones only had one point in the game, a free throw, Jones played 18 points, adding a rebound and an assist.

Jones was featured in 20 games this season for South Alabama.

“It’s great knowing that Janelle, right here from Booker T. Washington, she was able to play and her support system showed up too,” Jackson said.

Part of that support system included her former high school head coach, Jade Brown, who just wrapped up the 2023-24 season with the Wildcats.

Jones was the PNJ Co-Player of the Year as a senior at Booker T., averaging an area-best 21.5 points per game. She was also third-team all state that year. Jones’ father, Gene Williams, was a state championship coach at Booker T., while her mother was also a member of a Wildcats’ Final Four team.

“As a coach, this is what you dream of: being able to see your kid play at the collegiate level and get the playing time,” Brown said, while cheering on Jones during the game. “I’m excited for her, especially coming off an injury. This is fun.”

Brown noted that South Alabama offered Jones her freshman year of high school – a rarity in and of itself – and the relationship between the program and Jones only grew since that day.

“Janelle probably one of the most skilled players to come in as a ninth-grader,” Brown said. “She’s always had that high basketball IQ.”

Brown, a big advocate for high school basketball in the Pensacola area, added that having the Sun Belt play in Pensacola is not only good for the conference, but good for the city.

“The opportunity to see Division I basketball at an elite level being played is great for this area,” Brown said. “You have an opportunity to see somebody doing it now. Take advantage of these opportunities. If Janelle can do it, anybody from Pensacola can do it.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Rachel Leggett, Janelle Jones play for South Alabama in Pensacola