Just about the saddest story ever.

By Joe Rexrode , Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Lacey Holsworth of St. Johns watches as the Spartans take the floor against Virginia during their NCAA game at New York’s Madison Square Garden March 28, 2014.

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MSU kinesiology junior Danielle Bott paints on ‘the Rock’ where over 100 gathered along the banks of the Red Cedar river on the campus of Michigan State Wednesday to honor the legacy of Lacey Holsworth. / Matthew Dae Smith/AP

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A crowd that included Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo, second from r., his son Steven (next to Izzo), his wife Lupe, middle, and MSU senior center Adreian Payne (behind Lupe), sing during a candlelight vigil at ‘the Rock’ on the campus of Michigan State University on Wednesday evening to honor the legacy of Lacey Holsworth. / Matthew Dae Smith | for the Lansing State Journ

EAST LANSING — A month after a cancerous tumor wrapped around her then-6-year-old spine, Lacey Holsworth found Adreian Payne.

Payne and other members of the Michigan State men’s basketball team were visiting the St. Johns girl in Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital in January of 2012, and she was drawn to him in particular — because of his smile, she would say later.

He would later call their relationship a “gift from God,” and the nation would eventually come to know it — along with her smile. Lacey passed away late Tuesday at the age of 8, and Payne and many others mourned her today.

“I know she’s smiling and dancing in heaven right now,” Payne said in a statement through MSU. “My princess is now an angel.”

Lacey is survived by her parents, Matt and Heather, and brothers Will, Mitchell and Luke. The family announced her passing early today with the following post on Instagram: “Princess Lacey has achieved the ultimate victory. She now dances among angels…. The world is a better place because you were in it. Our hearts are broken. We love you Doll. Dance all night… Mommy and Daddy, Will, Mitchell and Luke #LoveLikeLacey”

A memorial service for Lacey is tentatively planned for April 17 at Breslin Center, though details were still being worked out as of this afternoon, MSU spokesman Matt Larson said.

The grace Lacey displayed throughout her nationally publicized battle with cancer came through in this text message from Matt Holsworth on Wednesday: “Continue her legacy! Love unconditionally.”

The tragedy of her passing came through in the trembling voice of ESPN’s Dick Vitale, who vowed between sobs to raise $250,000 in her name.

“I can’t believe it,” said Vitale, the former U-D and Detroit Pistons coach. “This rips my heart out, man. … I’m gonna get that money if I have to give it myself.”

The impact ever-smiling Lacey had on people in her brief time came through in a daylong stream of tweets and tributes. The most heartfelt came from inside the MSU men’s basketball family, which welcomed her as forward Adreian Payne became an honorary Holsworth in the past couple years.

“I mean, a week and a half ago, she’s with the team, in New York, sitting in the film room, going through everything she was going through,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said of Lacey. “All that pain — and she’s got a smile from ear to ear.”

Matt Holsworth texted today that Lacey passed away “in our arms at home peacefully. She is happy and pain-free now.”

After MSU students painted the rock tonight, several hundred of them joined Izzo and his family, Payne and other members of the team in signing it. Izzo addressed the crowd, saying: “This, my friends, is awesome. … I’m so proud of every single person standing here.”

He told the crowd that the past season will be remembered most for the way the team rallied around Lacey. He broke down for a moment as he told of how Lacey told her parents she was tired and “wanted to go home” after their trip to Texas with Payne last week. And he said she was smiling when she passed away.

“I’m not sure I’d be that tough,” Izzo said. “I’m not sure my players would. I’m not sure you would.”

Payne also spoke to the crowd, saying: “You don’t know how much this means to me and her family.”

Words of support came from all corners of the Big Ten and beyond. The MSU baseball team had a moment of silence before its home game today, the MSU softball team had “Play 4 Lacey” wristbands and athletic director Mark Hollis said in a statement that Lacey “captured the hearts of many people throughout our state and nation.”

College athletes and coaches helped Lacey “trend” today on Twitter. Members of the Golden State Warriors, the team of former Spartan Draymond Green, tweeted condolences. A website set up recently by Okemos High grad Jeff Martin to help the family with medical costs, blew past its goal of $75,000 today.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, who is followed on Twitter by nearly 700,000 people and recently made Lacey the first person he follows, tweeted: “RIP Lacey Holsworth. A beautiful soul, whose strength and courage touched and inspired us all. Heartbreaking.”

Payne’s statement included: “Words can’t express how much I already miss Lacey. She is my sister, and will always be a part of my life. She taught me how to fight through everything with a smile on my face even when things were going wrong. I’m a better man because of her.”

Payne and Lacey had a last hurrah in Texas last week — her cheering him during a college dunk contest and helping him judge a high school dunk contest — and their relationship was a case of mutual, cherished support.

They first met about five months after Payne’s grandmother Mary Lewis, who raised him, passed away in Jefferson Township, Ohio. It was about eight years after his mother, Gloria Lewis, died in his arms in the wake of an asthma attack.

“And now this,” Izzo said today.

Izzo and Payne knew time was short earlier in the week, and Izzo said they spoke this morning.

“Even though he knew this was inevitable, it’s hard,” Izzo said of Payne. “But he took it with the class and dignity that she taught him. I told him, ‘Not everybody gets to touch somebody’s life like you have. And sometimes other people impact your life, too.’”

That relationship was featured this spring on “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America,” after Payne carried Lacey onto the Breslin floor during his senior night ceremony, then brought her with him up the ladder to snip the nets and celebrate a Big Ten tournament championship win over Michigan on March 16 in Indianapolis.

Through it all, despite ongoing radiation treatments and growing tumors in various parts of her body – the disease returned in November after a few hopeful months away – Lacey smiled. She was a dancer who reveled in her moments of normalcy, tweeting about them with the hashtag: #kissitcancer.

“I refuse to be a victim,” she tweeted on Feb. 13. “No matter what I’ve been through, I’m still here. I have a history of victory.”

“It’s amazing, the things she understands about life, about people,” Matt Holsworth said at the time of Lacey’s personality and tweets. “She’s an old soul.”

Payne once called his relationship with Lacey “a gift from God,” and Izzo said of her influence on him: “I’m supposed to be a guy who leads men, and now an 8-year-old has impacted my life like this.”

He heard Vitale’s tearful voice on the phone, too, after Vitale heard the news and called Matt Holsworth. Vitale invited the Holsworths, Payne and Izzo to Sarasota, Fla., last May to take part in his annual gala to raise money for cancer research.

Lacey was the star that night of an event that has raised $10.7 million in eight years. Vitale said he will start raising the $250,000 in Lacey’s name at dickvitaleonline.com after speaking with Matt Holsworth.

“I told him, ‘Matt, we can’t save Lacey but maybe we can save someone else,’” said Vitale, who spent part of last week’s Final Four festivities visiting cancer-stricken kids at Dallas Children’s Hospital.

“And we’re worried about basketball,” Vitale said. “Cancer sucks … this should not be happening to kids like Lacey — she had a smile that was worth a million dollars. I’ll never forget her.”

Contact Joe Rexrode: jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode . Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe