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Gianna was a basketball standout who was following in the footsteps of her dad, who retired in 2016 after a 20-year career and five NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 13-year-old, known as Gigi, earned the nickname \"Mambacita\" because of her tenacity on the basketball court, like her famous dad whose nickname was \"Mamba.\"

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A post shared by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Apr 14, 2019 at 8:25pm PDT

The father and daughter were on their way to a basketball game at Kobe Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, on Jan. 26 when their helicopter crashed on a hillside in Calabasas, California. The Bryants, six other passengers -- including two of Gianna's teammates -- and the helicopter pilot were all killed in the crash.

One of the other passengers, Christina Mauser, assisted Kobe Bryant in coaching Gigi's Mamba team and was also a former teacher, coach and parent at Harbor Day School.

The school's jersey retirement ceremony for Gianna featured remembrances from her coaches, teachers and teammates, including members of her eighth grade basketball team.

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Feb 5, 2020 at 6:19pm PST

Gianna's former Harbor Day basketball coach described her as \"a warrior who gave 110% every time she stepped on the court\" and \"one of the fiercest competitors\" he's seen in his 20-year coaching career.

\"She had that Mamba mentality,\" the coach said in a video shared by Vanessa Bryant. \"No matter who we were playing, she was going to force her will and help us find a way to win.\"

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Feb 5, 2020 at 6:09pm PST

In another video, Gianna's former literature teacher described the \"wonder and joy that Gianna brought to our lives.\"

He said he and Gianna's classmates compiled a collection of 44 stories about Gigi because at Harbor Day she was \"more than Mambacita or heir to a basketball birthright, she was more than a sister or daughter.\"

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Feb 5, 2020 at 6:03pm PST

Gianna's music teacher spoke of her late student as \"our example.\"

\"When we take roll, we call her name and I hear 40-plus kids say 'here' in honor of her because she is always with us,\" said the teacher. \"Let's be better because of her. She was our example. Let's be better on the playground. Let's be better to your neighbors, to your friends, to your moms, to your dads, because she set a beautiful example.\"

Gianna is survived by her mom and three sisters.

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Jan 29, 2020 at 4:59pm PST

Vanessa Bryant also shared a tribute Wednesday to Kobe Bryant, her husband of nearly 20 years.

\"#mybestfriend #theBestdaddy Miss you so much. #handsome #sweet #funny #silly #lovinghusband ❤️Miss you saying, “Bonjourno principessa/reina,\" she captioned a photo of a smiling Kobe.

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Feb 5, 2020 at 8:51am PST

Kobe Bryant started coaching Gianna's basketball team when he retired in 2016.

Gianna reportedly wanted to attend the University of Connecticut, and even got a chance to meet with the school's women's basketball team when they made a visit to Los Angeles in 2017. The team paid tribute to Gianna at a game last month, writing on social media, \"Mambacita is forever a Husky.\"

Mambacita is forever a Husky 💙 pic.twitter.com/3wdAbdK0Ye

— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) January 27, 2020

Kobe Bryant has been described as a proud dad who would talk about how Gianna had the talent to take on his basketball legacy.

\"The best thing that happens is when we go out and fans will come up to me, and she’ll be standing next to me. And they’ll be like, 'Hey, you gotta have a boy. You and V gotta have a boy, man, have somebody carry on your tradition, the legacy,'\" Bryant told Jimmy Kimmel last year. \"And she’s like, 'Oy, I got this. You don’t need no boy for that. I got this.' And I’m like, 'That’s right. Yes, you do. You got this.'\"

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Jan 15, 2020 at 8:52pm PST

Music star Jay-Z recalled this week that one of the last things Kobe Bryant said to him was about Gianna.

“He was last in my house on New Year’s,\" Jay-Z said Tuesday during a lecture series at Columbia University. \"And one of the last things he said to me was, ‘You gotta see Gianna play basketball.’”

The Bryant family will continue to celebrate Gianna and Kobe thanks to the overwhelming tribute that grew at the Staples Center after their deaths, the president of the Staples Center told The Los Angeles Times.

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A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Jan 31, 2020 at 9:12pm PST

\"Vanessa had reached out to us and said, ‘Our family would like the items out there.’ So we’re going to catalog every one of them,\" Lee Zeidman told the news outlet. \"By that I mean, T-shirts, letters, basketballs, stuffed animals, toys. We’re going to put those in specially made containers and we’re going to ship them to the family.”

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