LSU is headed to the SEC championship recreation for the primary time since 2012, following an emotional 75-67 win over Ole Miss that was halted by a scary scene late on Saturday.
Junior guard Final-Tear Poa was stretchered off the courtroom with lower than six minutes remaining within the recreation. She was taken to St. Francis hospital for additional analysis, the place she was discovered to have motion of her extremities. Her CT scan got here again clear, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey informed reporters after the win.
Poa appeared to injure her neck after trying to take a cost and touchdown arduous. Her head appeared to bounce on the hardwood because the affect despatched her sliding towards the baseline.
She stayed down for some time initially, however then she tried to stroll after LSU star Angel Reese tried to help her weight. It was clear that Poa was struggling to face, and he or she was gently directed again down by trainers who rushed to the scene.
Mulkey additionally hurried to the courtroom, staying by Poa’s aspect as she was positioned in a neck brace earlier than paramedics lifted her away.
Poa’s teammates watched in tears, gathering on the sideline to hope collectively whereas followers chanted Poa’s identify.
LSU guard Final-Tear Poa is about to be stretchered off as she couldn’t make it off the courtroom beneath her personal energy 😞
Prayers up man 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/FYV9DDjtvx
— TimeoutSPORTS__ (@TimeoutSPORTS3) March 10, 2024
Sophomore Flaujae Johnson made a 3-pointer to extend the Tigers’ result in 67-59 within the last three minutes of the sport. She reached for her coronary heart and yelled “That is for Poa!” after it went in.
Reese and Johnson led LSU in scoring, each recording 21 factors. Poa, who’s from Australia, has began 10 video games this season. She had 5 factors in 17 minutes on Saturday.
“We knew what Poa needed from us. It was for Poa tonight,” Reese stated in a postgame interview on the printed. “I am getting emotional proper now as a result of she simply brings a lot to the staff.”
Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin known as on the NCAA to alter its block-or-charge rule after the sport, saying that Poa put herself in a harmful place as a result of she was making an attempt to make a play.
“There must be a rule, after which folks will not slide beneath folks,” she stated. “If we’re making an attempt to guard gamers, let’s shield gamers.”
The Rebels will now put together for the NCAA event, whereas LSU faces South Carolina for the SEC title. South Carolina and the Tigers have solely met as soon as this season, a recreation that noticed the undefeated Gamecocks shut a 76-70 win in January.
