BRISTOL – Donovan Clingan broke his mother’s rebounding record and became the all-time leading rebounder during his senior year at Bristol Central High School.
But no girls basketball player was able to break the late Stacey Porrini Clingan’s record of 1,032 rebounds, which she set in 1993 – until Friday night.
Bristol Central senior center Nicole Riemer, who is already the school’s leading girls basketball scorer, had 18 rebounds Friday night in a 75-28 victory over Manchester to break the 33-year-old rebounding record on the girls side.
Riemer, who averages 20 points and 15 rebounds, had 28 points Friday and now has 1,276 points for her career.
“It means so much,” Riemer said. “Just coming in each season and having goals for yourself, and I think this one was the top one – shout out to Stacey, who set that record really high.
“I’m so thankful – my team is amazing, they always support me.”
Stacey Porrini Clingan, who died of breast cancer at age 42 in 2018, set the record her senior year before she went to the University of Maine, where she set records for blocks in a season and a game, scored over 1,000 points and had over 900 rebounds. She was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame, the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Porrini’s senior year at Bristol Central, she averaged 17 points, 21 rebounds and six blocks per game.
Her son, who went on to star at UConn and now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, broke his mother’s record his senior year and ended his high school career with 1,518 rebounds.
“Thirty-three years,” Bristol Central coach Steve Gaudet said. “Stacey Porrini was unbelievable.
“It’s amazing – now (Riemer)’s the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in school history – it tells how special of a talent she is.”
Last weekend, at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., Riemer had a pair of double-doubles for Bristol Central (10-3) – she had 23 points and 17 rebounds in a win over Rome (N.Y.) Free Academy on Saturday and 26 points and 16 rebounds in a loss to Medfield Senior High on Sunday.
“She’s gotten those rebounds out of effort, technique, outworking people – that’s what she’s done for four years,” Gaudet said.
Gaudet, who also coaches the Bristol Eastern baseball team, said Riemer is the best leader he’s ever had on a sports team – “Bar none, in 25 years of coaching. She leads by example. She does the right thing, always. My mother passed away this year – she came over with a meal, a card, flowers, everything. Brought it to my house. She organized the whole thing. The card was signed by the whole team.
“She’s a special kid that I’m lucky to coach. I don’t have to do much.”
Riemer plans to play in college but hasn’t made a decision yet about where she is going.
Riemer said Friday night she wasn’t really thinking about the record once she got onto the court. Rebounding, she said, is something she enjoys working at.
“It comes down to hard work … every time that shot goes up … the thing with rebounds is you have the choice to go get it or not – you can box out or you can get back on offense,” she said. “Rebounds are something different, not like points or passing – it comes down to heart.”