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Maui cousins connect in Anchorage

Ex-MIL stars Fernandez, Fernandez-Roy have helped No. 11 Seawolves to 18-1 record

Kamehameha Schools Maui graduate Kimani Fernandez-Roy has played in all 19 games for Alaska Anchorage, averaging 12 minutes, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 points. The Seawolves are ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division II. University of Alaska Anchorage / Skip Hickey photos

Cameron Fernandez and Kimani Fernandez-Roy have known each other for years as basketball competitors on Maui.

It took both of them arriving in Anchorage, Alaska, to continue their careers to realize they are distant cousins.

Now, in different ways, they are enjoying the family support as they play for the University of Alaska Anchorage (18-1), ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division II.

“It’s crazy because I came out here on my visit and one of the girls who was hosting me was, like, ‘Hey, do you know your cousin is going to come here?’ “ said Fernandez, a 2016 graduate of Lahainaluna High School who spent her first two years of college at Washington State. “I’m like, ‘Cousin, what? I don’t have a cousin that’s going to come here.’ She was, like, ‘Kimani Fernandez.’ I’m, like, ‘She’s not my cousin. I played against her in high school, but she’s not my cousin.’

“I get back to the hotel and asked my dad, ‘Are Kimani and I cousins?’ He’s like, ‘Oh yeah.’ I’m like, ‘You never thought to tell me this before, what the heck?’ It’s been super fun playing with her up here.”

Lahainaluna graduate Cameron Fernandez, a transfer from Washington State, has played in six games for the Seawolves as she deals with an ankle injury.

Fernandez-Roy’s mother, Cecilia Goods-Fernandez, died in November, just a day before Kimani played an exhibition game against Duke. Fernandez-Roy had two rebounds in a 75-54 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium and then was on a plane home from North Carolina immediately following the game.

Fernandez-Roy, a freshman from Kamehameha Maui who has played in all 19 games for the Seawolves, is averaging 12 minutes, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 points.

One of Goods-Fernandez’s last posts on Facebook was that she couldn’t wait to see her daughter play against traditional powerhouse Duke. After a five-year battle with lung cancer, the former standout volleyball player at the University of Hawaii died at the age of 43, one day before her daughter’s first college basketball game.

“I wanted to come home to be there with her through what she was going through, but the one thing she told me was not to because she wanted me to stay and play Duke,” Fernandez-Roy said. “Before she went into a coma, that’s what she wanted, I knew then that I couldn’t come home yet, but as soon as I played, coach guys brought me home.”

Now, Fernandez-Roy calls home several times a week to check in on her father, Robert Fernandez, and three younger siblings.

“It was hard (to play Duke), but at the same time in the back of my mind, I just had to play to make my mom proud and do the things that I knew she would want me to do,” Fernandez-Roy said. “She was so excited to have her daughter playing Duke.”

UAA coach Ryan McCarthy has seen Fernandez-Roy hang tough through the hardest of times, a long way from home.

“Kimani is a really good kid, she’s a real special athlete, and I think from a basketball standpoint, she’s getting caught up to the speed at this level,” McCarthy said. “For us, she’s been an unbelievable rebounder for the minutes she’s been playing and she can guard a lot of positions. … And she’s doing it all under tough circumstances.”

Fernandez has been a piece of family in Alaska for Fernandez-Roy.

“Having someone from home, especially being my cousin, it’s definitely comforting,” Fernandez-Roy said. “Actually just getting to know her even, and having the chance to do that up here, it’s been really great.”

Fernandez fractured her ankle in October when her crutch slipped on ice as she was returning from a doctor’s visit to check out a knee injury that she suffered in practice. She has been limited to six games and has not played since Jan. 10.

“It’s just been kind of frustrating having to take those steps back, steps back just when you think you’re ready to move forward,” Fernandez said this week, one day after a doctor’s visit revealed the possible problem.

“The ligaments in that ankle, the ones on the outside, have just become super, super stretched out, which is putting extra pressure on the inside of my ankle, on the bones and whatnot. And there’s also a tear in that ligament on the inside of my ankle as well, so we’re just kind of waiting for that tear to heal and focusing on strengthening the muscles around my ankle.”

In the six games she has played Fernandez has averaged 6.8 points, but the ankle kept spraining itself over and over the longer she was on the floor. Her hope now is to be back in time for a March run.

Fernandez was limited to nine games as a freshman for the Cougars in 2016-17 before a severe concussion after an on-court collision ended her season.

“The most frustrating part is feeling like I haven’t been taking any steps forward as these small injuries keep happening,” the first Pac-12 Conference transfer in Alaska-Anchorage history said. “Obviously coming into this program, I was super excited. I never imagined not being able to play most of the season.”

McCarthy is excited to see Fernandez at full strength.

“There are a lot of expectations because she’s coming from such a high level, but to be quite frank, from where Washington State was and where we are now, I don’t think there’s a lot of difference,” McCarthy said. “For her, the biggest part is just getting back on the floor and getting healthy again. … She is a really, really good player.”

Fernandez agrees that UAA is a team would give the 7-13 Cougars a run for their money.

“I think it would be a pretty exciting game, I’m not going to lie,” Fernandez said. “We have so much toughness. It reminds me of Lahainaluna, we don’t let up. If we’re up by 20, he wants us to make it 30, make it 40, keep going.”

Fernandez said her cousin has been an inspiration to her.

“She’s been a huge influence for me,” Fernandez said. “It’s easy to really get caught up in yourself and feel bad for yourself, so I kind of have to separate myself from myself in a way. And kind of see things could be a lot worse than what it is — I just have a little hurt ankle.

“Just looking at the bigger picture and I see her. She’ll come into practice, going hard, focusing on school. It’s a huge motivation for sure. It makes things a lot easier, too.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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