GREENVILLE, S.C. — LSU announced guard Rust Tia Poa was diagnosed with a concussion and was scheduled to be released from the hospital. She hit her head on the floor late in the game, which the Tigers won 75-67, and was taken for examination. game against Mississippi in the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Saturday night.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Poa had movement in her limbs when she was carried off the court on a stretcher and taken to St. Francis Hospital.
Mulkey said after the game that he received word that Poa’s tests at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville came back clean. “That’s great news,” Mulkey said.
Poa, who was injured in the fourth quarter, got up with help and was slowly being helped to the team’s bench. But she stopped and lay on her floor while paramedics came out with her stretcher.
LSU players gathered on the sideline to pray as fans chanted “poa!”
“The child was licking the back of his head a lot,” Mulkey said. “I haven’t seen it. I just saw it in a movie, but I didn’t think to watch it.”
Mulkey said Poa seemed a little “sluggish.”
“She could just squeeze your hand,” Mulkey said. “She used to say she could feel her legs, but she really couldn’t articulate the words well enough to not scare you.”
Poa is a junior from Australia and has started 10 games this season. She scored five points in 17 minutes against the Rebels.
Mulkey contacted Poa’s family in Australia and went to the hospital to accompany the player.
