As UConn celebrated winning the women’s NCAA basketball championship on Sunday, April 6, the loss of Kobe Bryant’s daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, was felt by members of the sports community.
Gigi, who died at the age of 13 in January 2020 in a helicopter crash that also took the life of her NBA star father, was a young basketball star on the rise at the time of her sudden death and widely expected to attend UConn as a student-athlete.
Vanessa Bryant, Gigi’s mother and Kobe’s wife, celebrated the Huskies’ win with a note about her late daughter.
“Gigi would’ve loved being there with you,” Vanessa, 42, posted via her Instagram Story on Sunday. “‘When you think you can’t, UConn’ ~ Gianna Bryant 💔❤️.”
Vanessa also tagged UConn head coach, Geno Auriemma, and congratulated him on the title win, which marked the school’s 12th national title and first since 2016.
UConn star Paige Bueckers was asked about Gigi after her team emerged victorious on Sunday.
“There have been times this whole weekend and throughout the whole tournament that I feel like God has really shown himself,” Bueckers, 23, told reporters. “My mom staying in Room 824, which is both of Kobe’s numbers and stuff like that.”
Bueckers added, “It’s just been a very blessed year. Win or lose, it’s been a very blessed year. But I feel like God’s presence has really been showing out. In little things, you just see his presence so palpable. Yes, Kobe’s watching over us. Gigi’s watching over us.
After UConn’s victory, ESPN Radio’s Arash Markazi reposted a video via X from October 2018 showing Kobe, who was 41 at the time of his death, talking to NBA legend Reggie Miller about Gigi’s college plans.
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“She is hellbent on UConn,” Kobe told him. “Bro, she is hellbent on UConn.”
Miller, 59, attempted to convince Kobe that Gigi should attend alma mater, UCLA. “You don’t want her to go that far,” Miller told Kobe.
“Her mama don’t want her to go that far,” Kobe said with a laugh.
UConn honored Gigi after her death in 2020, draping a Huskies jersey with her No. 2 over a chair on the bench before one of their games. “Always a Husky,” the school wrote via Instagram.
Gigi was coached by Kobe on the youth girls’ AAU basketball team, Team Mamba, at the time of her death. The helicopter crash also took the lives of one of Gigi’s teammates, Payton Chester, her teammate’s mother, Sarah Chester, and a Mamba Academy coach, Christina Mauser.
The crash killed college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri Altobelli, the Altobellis’ daughter Alyssa and the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan.
