The Michigan State Spartans' basketball team has lost one their biggest fans, an eight-year-old girl who died of neuroblastoma, a fetal-nerve cell cancer.

The family of Lacey Holsworth announced Wednesday that she died the night before at their home in St. John's, Mich. "Princess Lacey," as the Spartans knew her, developed a special friendship with Michigan State's star senior forward Adreian Payne.

Lacey's family made the public announcement on Instagram with the following message.

"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."

"She is such a huge part of my life," Payne previously told the Detroit News. "And she grew to be part of my family."

According to ESPN, Payne brought Lacey to games, visited her in the hospital several times and she even helped him cut down the nets after the Spartans won the Big Ten Championship this year.

A tumor the size of a football had wrapped itself around Lacey's spine and doctors discovered it when she said she felt back pain while dancing. The tumor hampered her ability to walk, but doctors eventually removed it. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Spartans began visiting Lacey around two years ago.

Dick Vitale, a college basketball analyst at ESPN, contacted Matt Holsworth, Lacey's father, to let him know he would be making a $250,000 donation in his daughter's name. Vitale, who has fought cancer himself, invited Payne and Lacey to join him as special guests at a recent gala event.

"I can't believe it," Vitale told the DFP. "This rips my heart out, man."

A spokesman said a memorial service has been planned for April 17, but further details have not been released.

"Even though he knew this was inevitable, it's hard," Spartans coach Tom Izzo told the DFP of his conversation with Payne following Lacey's death. "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.'"