Confident—the way Last-Tear Poa is playing her basketball lately.
“She’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Kim Mulkey said of Poa following the team’s win over Alabama. “She just has great anticipation skills.”
Poa came into the 2024 season as one of the team’s more valuable returners. Last season, she played an important role off the bench, giving the team depth and a different type of guard-play.
It was all about playing her role in last season’s national championship run. But whatever role Poa’s played throughout her career, she’s always played it with confidence.
And that all started in “the land down under,” Melbourne, Australia. Growing up in Australia, Poa’s natural, point-guard playstyle was born.
“Growing up with basketball, we learned so much about IQ and pushing the ball a lot,” Poa said. “That’s our game.”
She then came to the United States in 2020, where she played at Northwest Florida State College, a junior college in the panhandle of Florida.
Her game translated well, to say the least. In her freshman season, she won a NJCAA National Championship, where she averaged 23 points per game. She earned Most Valuable Player in the NJCAA Tournament, and she shot 44.9% from the field that season.
Poa then became one of the top junior college recruits in the country, and it didn’t take long for her to land on Mulkey and LSU’s radar.
“She told me about coming here,” Poa said. “At first, I was a little skeptical. But just knowing her history, I was just like, ‘Okay, maybe I do have a chance.’ I got to come to LSU and visit, and I knew I was meant to be here.”
Poa made it official with LSU and joined the team ahead of the 2022-23 season. Her role became known early on in the season; she would be an asset to the team on the bench and provide consistent minutes off the bench every game.
“Obviously we had other threats last year, so I had to be behind people,” Poa said. “But coming off the bench, I didn’t complain, I just wanted to do what coach wanted me to do to win.”
Poa’s season-high came against Texas A&M, where she scored 10 points along with three rebounds and an assist in 20 minutes of play. She then played 25 minutes against Kentucky in the team’s next game, the most playing time she got all season.
But her role remained the same for the remainder of the regular season and the Southeastern Conference Tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, however, she came through for the team at several points.
Against Hawaii in the opening round, she played 18 minutes, scoring five points, including a 3-pointer. In the Sweet 16 against Utah, she played 23 minutes. While she didn’t score, she played an important role on defense, helping the team come away with a 66-63 win.
In the National Championship game against Iowa, she scored six points in seven minutes of play. She knocked down two 3-pointers along with two assists and drew two charges against Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, forcing her deeper into foul trouble.
Coming into the 2023-24 season, Poa looked to play the true point guard position and wanted to facilitate the game with the weapons around her.
“I’ll be a point guard, so just controlling the team, being more of a leader, and just understanding who I have on the floor now,” Poa said. “We’re definitely more of a threat. I got wings to play with me, I got drivers and shooters. Obviously, I’ve got Angel coming back, so I’m excited to play with them.”
While her minutes per game have increased drastically, and became more consistent, Poa still came off the bench for the majority of the season. Hailey Van Lith, who transferred from Louisville this past offseason, looked to transition her game into a point guard role and a facilitating role too.
At the start of SEC play, the team hit a rough stint, where the Tigers lost three of five games through 15 days. Van Lith’s game was somewhat limited, and the guard’s struggled overall with defense on the perimeter.
With a lack of consistent facilitation and perimeter defense, Mulkey and the team looked to Poa to step up.
When the team returned home after losing at Mississippi State, Poa did just that. In 27 minutes of play, she scored nine points with four assists, a rebound and a steal. Her job was to facilitate, and that’s what she did.
Against Alabama, she played arguably her best game of the season. In the team’s 85-66 win, she scored 11 points with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in 30 minutes of play.
LSU was down by 10 at halftime against the Crimson Tide, and, once again, the team looked to Poa to step up. And, once again, she did. Of her 11 points, seven of them game in the second half, where she also came away with four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
“She got the start in the second half, and she did some really good things defensively that kept her on the floor. That is Poa’s game,” Mulkey said.
The Tigers have won their last three games following back-to-back losses. With the changes the team has looked to make, Poa’s increase in playing time and production has been a huge part of why they’ve bounced back from adversity.
But Poa doesn’t think of her new role any different. She’s just doing what she’s asked; just doing her job. And she does it with confidence.
