KINGSTON, Ont. — Keylyn Filewich has been named the top women’s basketball player in Canada. A graduate transfer who joined the Winnipeg Wesmen for her fifth year of eligibility, Filewich was named the Nan Copp Trophy winner as the top women’s basketball player in U Sports during the national awards gala Wednesday night at Queen’s University.
It is the fifth time a Wesmen player has won the national honour as Filewich joins JoAnne Wells in 2004-05 and Sandra Carroll — who won it three years straight between 1992 and 1995 — as previous winners of the prestigious award.
Filewich averaged 17.3 points, a career-high 10.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game on her way to being named a first-team Canada West all-star and back-to-back winner of the conference player of the year. She was 12th in the country in points per game, eighth in rebounds per game, 15th in blocks per game, and 10th in field goal percentage (51.7), which marked the fifth straight season she's shot at least 50 per cent from the field. Her 34 steals were 11th in the conference and second among forwards.
"She has been a pleasure to coach. She's low-maintenance, hard-working and 100 per cent committed," Wesmen head coach Tanya McKay said. "Everyone that we've played has defended us from the inside out. They've swarmed her, doubled her, they've paid a lot of attention to her and she still put up numbers."
Filewich beat out OUA representative Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu of Ottawa, RSEQ nominee Amaiquen Siciliano of Bishop’s and the AUS’s nominee, Jayda Veinot of Acadia. Filewich will lead the Wesmen into the national championship tournament Thursday as the 3-seed Wesmen take on the 6-seed Laval Rouge et Or. Livestreaming in English is available for free worldwide on CBCSportsx.ca, CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app, and is available in English and French on usports.ca