U SPORTS Honours for Lefebvre-Okankwu

Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu was on hand at the U SPORTS All-Canadian Gala in Kingston on Wednesday March 30 and made a memorable speech after being announced as the winner of the Sylvia Sweeney Award for student-athlete community service.

"Remember to always stand up for what is right, if not for yourself then for others," she said at the end of her powerful speech about her journey as a high performing student-athlete. "Silence is not showing love, care, or empathy. Silence is always siding with hate and we all know love always wins." 

Lefebvre-Okankwu was also named a First Team All-Canadian for 2021-22, reflecting her outstanding season leading the OUA East in scoring. It is the first All-Canadian award for Lefebvre-Okankwu, who was named the U SPORTS All-Rookie team in 2017-18.

This season, the 6-foot-1 forward from Gatineau, Que. set a career high with 16.4 points per game, which ranked first in the OUA East. She complemented that with a career-high 9.7 rebounds per game, ranking fifth in the entire OUA, and 1.8 steals per game, helping lead the Gee-Gees to a 10-4 regular season record.

During the 2021-22 regular season she recorded her 1000th career regular season point and her 500th career regular season rebound - she is second in Gee-Gees team history for career scoring and third in career rebounds.

Lefebvre-Okankwu has been a consistent performer academically as well as on the court, having been an Academic All-Canadian for her first four years at uOttawa. In 2020 she was the Valedictorian for the Faculty of Science as she received her Honours Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science and Minor in Psychology. Now pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Lefebvre-Okankwu has maintained a 10.0 term GPA for the last four consecutive terms.

Another role Lefebvre-Okankwu has embraced is that of a powerful voice within the Ottawa community. She was a founding member of the Black Student-Athletes Advocacy Council at uOttawa and serves on the executive committee as secretary. 

"Being a member of BSAAC is so important to me," Lefebvre-Okankwu explained in her speech. "It was created from sadness, frustration, from the death of another one of us. The frustration from lack of empathy and support from various institutions. It became this group of amazing Black student-athletes working every week, supporting each other… celebrating Black excellence and Black joy while acknowledging the past and fighting the injustices." 

View the whole speech on the Gee-Gees YouTube channel.

Lefebvre-Okankwu is the first Gee-Gee to win the U SPORTS Sylvia Sweeney Award and the fourth player to be named an All-Canadian in program history.

Gee-Gees Women's Basketball All-Canadians :

Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu - 2021-22, First Team, Forward, 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds per game

Brooklynn McAlear-Fanus - 2019-20, Second Team, Guard: 15.8 points, 6.8 assists per game

Hannah Sunley-Paisley - 2011-12, First Team, Forward: 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds per game

Hannah Sunley-Paisley - 2010-11, Second Team, Forward: 15.9 points, 11.5 rebounds per game

Hannah Sunley-Paisley - 2009-10, Second Team, Forward: 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds per game

Stella Ighorewo - 1996-97, Second Team, Forward: 17.9 points, 11.7 rebounds per game

Stella Ighorewo - 1995-96, Second Team, Forward: 20.3 points, 13.1 rebounds per game