SEC Tournament: The Latest on LSU Guard Last-Tear Poa
With just under six minutes left in the fourth quarter, LSU guard Last-Tear Poa squared up to take a charge in transition and fell down, hitting the back of her head and suffering a concussion.
She ultimately needed a stretcher to be taken off the floor and was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Greenville to undergo further tests.
Poa had feeling in all extremities and the CT scan came back negative.
She is awake and responsive and expected to be discharged from the hospital on Saturday night. The LSU medical staff will keep a close eye on her over the next 24 hours.
“As I was walking to this press conference, the trainer told me the CT scan came back clean so that’s wonderful news,” Coach Kim Mulkey said after Saturday's game. “I spoke to her mother, of course she’s from Australia.
“She was just a little bit unresponsive is how I would describe it. She could squeeze your hand lightly. She could tell you she could feel her legs. But she couldn’t really articulate good enough for you not to be afraid. The kids were right there and they saw it all.”
“We were just trying to keep the team together as much as possible because Poa would want us to stay together,” Angel Reese said. “Poa would want us to play hard and do this for her and win this game and play tough. She is one of the toughest players on our team so being to fight for her; we hit a couple tough shots and kept saying, that’s for Poa, that’s for Poa.”
LSU held a six point lead when Poa went down and came together to finish the game victorious against Ole Miss to advance to the SEC Tournament Championship.
“Honestly, I don’t give a damn about the game at that point,” Coach Mulkey said. “I really don’t. That’s somebody’s child. That’s my player and those are my players in that huddle. When I got to the huddle it was bad. It was just very, very emotional. I think Angel spoke up. I think Hailey (Van Lith) spoke up saying, ‘we’ve gotta get through this. We’ve got to finish the game.’ They dug deep. It was one of the more gutsy performances of a team I’ve ever coached.”
After scans and other testing, Poa has been diagnosed with a concussion and will remain with the program until they depart back to Baton Rouge.
LSU faces No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday with a chance to take home the SEC Tournament title.
