"I still text him even though he's not here. Thank you for everything, the rest is for you. Rest easy my guy."@sabrina_i20 pays tribute to Kobe and Gigi Bryant.pic.twitter.com/kRVaFDt7n7 — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 24, 2020

Oregon star guard Sabrina Ionescu delivered a thoughtful exploration of her relationship with Kobe and GiGi Bryant at the pair's memorial service at the Staples Center on Monday morning. Ionescu spoke for nearly 10 minutes before thousands of Bryant family, friends and supporters inside the basketball arena.

The speech provided personal anecdotes, remembrances and insights into how both Kobe and GiGi impacted her and women's basketball.

"Growing up I only knew one way to play the game of basketball, fierce," she started. With obsessive focus. I was unapologetically competitive. I wanted to be the best. I love the work, even when it was shard, especially when it was hard. I knew I was different, that my drive was different.I grew up watching Kobe Bryant, game after game, ring after ring. Living his greatness without apology. I wanted to be just like him.

Ionescu kept her composure for the duration. She spoke about text messages and phone calls they shared over the course of the season, the pressure of living up to his expectations for her and how she continues to send him texts even after his passing.

She didn't shy away from his growing role in women's basketball as a whole, citing how vision Kobe's vision for her was greater than her own for herself and how that helped push her to work. She also discussed what Kobe saw in his middle daughter.

“If I represented the present of the women’s game, GiGi was the future," she said of her.

“I wanted to be apart of the generation that changed basketball for Gigi and her teammates, where being born female didn’t mean being born behind.



‘You have too much to give to stay silent.’ ...That was his next great act, a #GirlDad.” pic.twitter.com/GUBe3gvSF2 — Kevin Wade (@KwadeSays) February 24, 2020

She said GiGi dreamt of playing for UCONN, and that she would've supported her in playing collegiately wherever she chose. She received strong applause at the conclusion of her memorial speech.

She's now expected to fly north where her and her teammates will take on No. 4 Stanford tonight at 6 PM. ESPN2 will have the call.

The game's play-by-play announcer, Adam Amin, posted an image of Ionescu's teammates huddled around a laptop watching her address the crowd at Maples Pavilion during the team's walk-through today.