Bre Jackson
Photo: Via @wcsIHSathletics on Twitter (X)

There has been one constant during Bre Jackson’s basketball career: She always plays or coaches at a school with the same nickname.

It started when she was a point guard at Brentwood Academy, helping the Eagles win four state championships.

Then it was onto college ball, where she was the Morehead State Eagles’ second-leading scorer (10.8 points per game) and one of the nation’s top free throw shooters (90 percent) as a senior in the 2019-20 season.

After that, she began her coaching career going as an assistant at BA, where the team went 46-41 the past three seasons.

The pattern continued Tuesday when she landed her first head coaching job with the Independence Lady Eagles.

“I joke with my family all the time, I tell them I think my spirit animal has to be an eagle,” Jackson said. “It has to be.”

Jackson, 26, inherits a team that has suffered four straight losing seasons, although Indy made it to the region quarterfinals the past three years.

“I think you have to understand what it means to win and you have to start with the mental toughness and the IQ of a wining mentality,” Jackson said. “That’s the intangibles off the court with the weight room. If the mind is fit, then your actions and emotions will follow.”

She is the Lady Eagles’ fifth coach in seven years.

“You have to be able to be adaptable, and time is always going to change things,” Jackson said. “You just keep growing.”

Independence returns four starters and most of its bench players from Tony Hill’s 11-17 team.

Hill resigned in June to become an assistant at Kirkwood, where his wife, Betsy, works. He went 32-54 in three seasons.

Jackson labels herself as a defensive-minded coach.

“I really love defense,” Jackson said. “That was one of my pillars when I played basketball. I just think defense is the staple that builds a team.”

Jackson played and coached under BA’s Rhonda Brown, a former Vanderbilt and WNBA point guard who won five state titles and 475 games in 23 seasons.

“Oh, she was such a great influence,” Jackson said. “I transferred to Brentwood Academy from John F. Kennedy (Middle School), and I knew from that first interaction this was somebody who was going to make an impact on my life. She always motivated us, challenged us to be the very best at whatever we did.”

Brown advances at Junior Amateur

Former Brentwood Academy golfing star Blades Brown, Rhonda’s son, made it to the round of 32 at the U.S. Junior Amateur on Wednesday at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Brown, Tiger Woods and Bobby Clampett are the only golfers to ever win medalist honors in stroke play at the Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur.

“I was 13, going on 14, when I met Blades Brown,” Jackson said. “He was probably third grade, going into fourth grade. He was always talented. He could play basketball, golf.

“I would always tell him, like, ‘Blades, you’re going to be a GOAT one day.' I would just joke around with him because he was so competitive. To see him break barriers is really beautiful to watch.”