‘Beautifully broken’ by death

The tattoos covering Jones’ right forearm and wrist offer clues, better than anything else, into what happened after she arrived at Memphis.

There’s a dove soaring in the sunlight above the name “Jaleah.”

There’s the epitaph “RIP Steve” written in cursive.

And along the side of her arm is the phrase, “Beautifully Broken,” as well as two dates: “4-1-16” and “9-13-16.”

Jones, 23, transferred to Memphis ahead of the 2015-16 season, fresh off winning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors at UT Martin, because the 6-foot-1 forward wanted to prove herself. She wanted to know, “Are you this good against Uconn?”

But while sitting out the year because of NCAA transfer rules, death nearly broke her.

Jones met 1-year-old Jaleah in November 2015 at the home of one of Jones’ friends in Covington. Jones didn’t initially know Jaleah’s mother, only that she was having issues taking care of her daughter. Jones offered to help.

Jaleah’s mother eventually Jones she could keep the child.

So during most of that 2015-16 season, she had a 1-year-old in her campus apartment and served as the child’s de facto mother. When Jones went to class, teammates would take turns watching Jaleah.

At one point, Jones took Jaleah back to Covington to stay with her mother for a week. And then, in the middle of the night on April 1, 2016, she got a phone call from her friend.

“She’s gone,” Jones said, recalling the conversation. “She’s gone in a fire.”

Jones thought this must be a sick told