Los Angeles, Feb 6 (IANS): Gianna Bryants school on Wednesday night retired her No. 2 basketball jersey in a ceremony as they paid tribute to her.

Retired NBA star Kobe was one of nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas where he was being accompanied by his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.

According to a www.today.com report, students and staff of Harbor Day School in Newport Beach paid glowing tribute to Gianna and how she always was a leader.

"My Gigi. I love you! I miss you," Gianna's mother, Vanessa Bryant, wrote in one of her posts about the ceremony. "You've taught us all that no act of kindness is ever too small."

One of the school's basketball coaches, Joshua Parks, said Gianna was one of the fiercest competitors he'd ever seen as quoted by www.today.com.

"She definitely represented the ‘Mamba Mentality' every time she stepped on the floor," Parks added.

"She never came to school and bragged about anything," her former adviser and music teacher, Yunga Webb, said in her speech. "She was one of the most humble people I've ever known."

"She didn't need to brag, just needed to be a light wherever she stood," Webb continued.

"She elevated the eighth-grade class. She makes us better -- she made us better and she makes us better."

"We (still) call her name. And when we call her name, I hear 40-plus kids say ‘here,'" Webb said. "In honor of her. Because she's always with us."