Massachusetts State Police this week announced a basketball league named in memory of Trooper Tamar A. Bucci, who was killed in the line of duty March 3.

The Trooper Tamar Bucci Unity Basketball League (UBL) for Girls compliments ongoing UBL divisions in Brockton, Fall River, Chicopee, Worcester, and Boston. Games in the new league begin April 5 at the Brockton Boys & Girls Club and will involve teams from Brockton, West Bridgewater, and Foxboro.

The UBL is part of the state police’s TEAM Initiative, which aims to connect law enforcement officers and young people through sports to talk, listen, and gain greater understanding of each other.

Bucci's cruiser was struck by a tanker truck carrying a full load of 10,000 gallons of gasoline as she attempted to pull to the side of the road to assist a disabled motorist. Two civilian good Samaritans pulled Bucci from the heavily damaged cruiser and a Stoneham Police officer who came upon the scene performed emergency first aid, including CPR, until EMS arrived and transported her to Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Late last night, on a stretch of road that she protected every night during the midnight shift, Trooper Bucci gave her life in the act of trying to help another person in distress. There is no greater act of sacrifice than to give one’s life for another. She is the 22nd member of the Massachusetts State Police to die in the line of duty. Her death is a reminder of the dangers that troopers and all police officers face on a daily basis to protect society,” a MSP statement said the day following her death.