Sabrina Ionescu is the first NCAA basketball player — male or female — to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in a career. She set the record just hours after speaking at the Bryant memorial.
At the memorial, Ionescu told the story of a game about a year ago when Oregon was playing at University of Southern California. Shortly after the game started, in walked Bryant with Gianna and two of her teammates, and they sat down courtside. Ionescu's jaw dropped."They watched the entire game," she said."And that was the first time I met Kobe."
After the game, the visitors came into the locker room to meet with the team. Kobe congratulated them and offered a bit of advice: Don't shoot yourselves in the foot.The Oregon star, who's expected to be the No. 1 pick in April's WNBA draft, spoke with deep respect for Gianna's game. "She had a fadeaway better than mine," she said."If I represented the present of the women's game, Gigi was the future, and Kobe knew it."Bryant's vision for others was always bigger than people dreamed of for themselves, she said. And he didn't just show up at that game and then leave: He became a friend and a champion.
"I wanted to be part of the generation that changed basketball for Gigi and her teammates. Where being born female didn't mean being born behind. Where greatness wasn't divided by gender. 'You have too much to give to stay silent.' That's what he said," recalled Ionescu."That's what he believed. That's what he lived — through Gigi, through me, through his investment in women's basketball. That was his next great act: a girl dad.
After the service, Ionescu flew to the Bay Area for the game. She had also been battling the flu, her coach said, and she vomited in the locker room before taking the court. The Ducks would go on to beat Stanford, 74-66.
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