BATON ROUGE – Flau'jae Johnson drifted her head back and gave a steaming glance to the ceiling.

"We got things to work on," the LSU women's basketball star sophomore exasperated as she leaned forward to the microphone in front of her.

No. 9 LSU (18-3, 5-2 SEC) and Kim Mulkey, just minutes before, landed haymaker after haymaker on No. 1 South Carolina for the first 30-plus minutes of the game in front of a rowdy and standing-room only crowd inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Thursday night.

But Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks, the last undefeated team standing in the country, withstood the Tigers' punches and slipped past, 76-70.

South Carolina (18-0, 6-0 SEC) felt relieved it came out intact but what it needed down the stretch to grit out the win has been engrained in Staley's program for some time: toughness in crunch time and the unrelenting will to focus in with the furnace is at its hottest.

LSU, through everything is has gone through up to this point in the season with star Angel Reese missing four games, players no longer with the team and injuries to Hailey Van Lith and Sa'Myah Smith that have sidelined them, has had their struggles leading up to the matchup with the Gamecocks.

Yet, it had its chances. LSU led going into the fourth quarter but was outrebounded in the fourth and Reese fouled out with four minutes to go.

"I think we're one of the best teams in the country," Mulkey said after the game. "Losing to South Carolina the way we did tonight sent a message. And I don't think we're going anywhere."

LSU and South Carolina did trade the lead four times in the fourth quarter. The Tigers showed resilience despite the game feeling like it was slipping away.

"It's about not backing down," said LSU junior forward Aneesah Morrow, who scored a team-high 16 points with 10 rebounds.

"We're competitors, we're not about to let someone come in here," Johnson said. "We got dogs on the court that can score the ball at will. But what we lacked tonight was the defensive end. But we were competitors down the stretch."

LSU had the top-ranked team on the ropes. But it couldn't find a way to finish when the game hung in the balance.

The show was a dogfight. And it's evident that the Tigers have come a long way from where it was when it lost to Colorado in Las Vegas to open the season.

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But as Johnson's frustration through her answers in the postgame interview demonstrated, Mulkey and LSU aren't in the business of moral victories.

"When we came out for the third quarter, they were tougher than we were," Mulkey said. "In those first five minutes, they started rebounding the ball, taking it right at us, we didn't get to the foul line. They got to the foul line more than we did. Rebounding in the fourth quarter for South Carolina was big, we got outrebounded 12 to four.

"I'm not into moral victories, never have been. We had opportunities to win this game and we didn't. I'm extremely proud of LSU and the atmosphere and what we've created in three years. I'm sure I'll toss and turn all night, I don't know if I'll sleep much but that's a personality deal. We'll learn from it, just we did when we went to South Carolina last year. This is just one game."

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball's loss to South Carolina shows its progress