Last-Tear Poa played two years of college basketball with Angel Reese. She has nothing but great things to say about her former teammate and her impact on the sport.
The haters are furious.
One of the biggest villains in college basketball history is someone with who people want to play. She is a leader and a mentor in the locker room as well as a hardworker on the court.
Last-Tear Poa played three years at LSU.
Poa began her career at Northwest Florida State college. The Australian-born guard ultimately transferred to LSU in 2022 as the top-ranked JUCO prospect in the country. She played in all 72 games during her freshman and sophomore seasons, mostly off of the bench. The Tigers won a national championship in 2023 and made the Elite Eight in 2024.
Angel Reese was a major factor in both of those runs. The Maryland transfer averaged 23 points and 15.4 rebounds per game en route to the national title with 18.6 points and 13.4 rebounds per game that next year.
Perhaps the biggest storyline of Reese’s career was her gesture at Caitlin Clark during the national championship game. It was the taunt heard around the world.
In that moment, in large part because of Clark, Reese became a household name. Some people love her. Most people love to hate her. Especially those who factor race into the equation.
Regardless of how you feel about Reese, she got a ring. And she was twice named as a WNBA All-Star after being drafted No. 7 overall by the Chicago Sky. You cannot deny her impact.
Angel Reese is a good teammate.
There were a lot of rumors about the 2022-23 and 2023-24 LSU basketball teams. Reese supposedly had beef with Flau’jae Johnson that escalated to a beef between their mothers and she took a mysterious leave of absence from the program at the start of her senior season.
Those two occurrences, coupled with her brash attitude on social media and the rivalry with Clark, made her one of the most hated players in the country of all-time. Some people love Angel Reese. Others cannot stand her. That is all fine and well.
However, it is hard to paint a narrative about someone when the people closest to them say otherwise.
Last-Tear Poa spoke about her relationship with Reese during an appearance on the Australian basketball podcast ‘Bounce Pass’ with Bec Cole. It was (and still is) a good one.
“I might get hate for this, but she’s the main reason why women’s basketball changed that year,” Poa said. “She brought intensity and stood on business. I loved playing with Angel — I wish I could again. She taught me a lot — on and off the court. Being the point guard, when I got the ball, she was running — she made things easy. And if we shot, she’d get the rebound.”
No matter how many people tried to put her down, Reese kept rising.
“Her shoulders were heavy, but she wore that crown to the top, Poa concluded.
Well, that settles that. Say what you will about Angel Reese but her former teammate not only enjoyed playing with her and appreciates all of her accomplishments, they want to play with her again.
Villain? Maybe, maybe not. Good teammate? Sound like it.