Christina Mauser, girls basketball coach killed alongside Kobe Bryant, honored in private funeral
Funeral services were held Sunday for Christina Mauser, the youth basketball coach killed in a helicopter crash three weeks ago alongside Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and six others.
Mauser, a top assistant coach for the Mamba girls' basketball team, was aboard the ill-fated helicopter that slammed into a mountainside in Calabasas, California, on the morning of Jan. 26.
The Sikorsky S-76B aircraft had left Orange County for a game at Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. The other victims onboard included Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri Altobelli, and their daughter, Alyssa Altobelli, who was a teammate of Gianna's, as well as fellow teammate Payton Chester, her mother, Sarah Chester, and the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan.
Mauser's husband, Matthew Mauser, told ABC News in an emotional interview last month that she took many trips on the helicopter with Bryant, who hand-picked her for her "exceptional" penchant for coaching.
"As good as she was with X's and O's, she was also that good with how to treat the girls," he said. "She took a lot of pride in being there for those girls and she absolutely adored them."
Mauser is survived by her husband and their three children -- ages 3, 9 and 11.
She was honored in a private service inside the gymnasium of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, her alma mater, ABC Los Angeles station KABC reported.
A public memorial will be held for Bryant and Gianna on Feb. 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were laid to rest in a private ceremony on Feb. 7.
