DALLAS — The Mississippi State miracle finished a little short.

Two days after ending four-time defending national champion UConn’s record 111-game winning streak, the Bulldogs lost 67-55 to Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game Sunday night.

“It wasn’t our best day. But it’s not defining our season,” Bulldogs Coach Vic Schaefer said. “Had a heck of a year, man. We’ve beaten two No. 1’s to get here. We played on the last day. Are we disappointed? Absolutely.”

Morgan William, the diminutive point guard who helped deliver the Bulldogs (34-5) to the title game, wasn’t even on the floor in the fourth quarter.

William hit the buzzer-beating pull-up jumper in overtime to beat UConn late Friday night. That came after she scored 41 points in an overtime win over Baylor in the Elite Eight. But the 5-foot-5 junior guard struggled getting into the flow in the finale, and admitted that the Bulldogs were tired.

“But that’s no excuse. It’s 40 more minutes for the rest of the season, I guess we just we all collectively couldn’t get on the same page,” said William, who sat stoically answering questions in the quiet locker room.

William finished with eight points on 2-of-6 shooting with four assists and one turnover in 23 minutes. Jazzmun Holmes, a sophomore, played the balance of the minutes at the point and had six points in 17 minutes.

“She was giving ball pressure and scoring points,” William said. “I can’t be mad, she was doing what was best for the team.”

The best season ever by the Bulldogs ended after an incredible late March run that they couldn’t extend into the second day in April.

“We’ve got some motivation going into next season,” said William, among nine underclassmen on the Bulldogs’ roster. “A lot of people around the country know who we are. So it makes us want to come back and play great. That doesn’t make us feel any better.”

In their first five NCAA tournament games this year, Mississippi State played the highest possible seed each time. They beat Washington and NCAA career scoring leader Kelsey Plum in the Sweet 16, took out Big 12 champion and top-seeded Baylor in the regional final, then pulled off one of the biggest shockers ever.

But Mississippi State faltered against a familiar opponent, even after jumping out to a quick 7-1 lead.

“We’ve had obviously some hard times dealing with them, and today was no different,” said Schaefer, who is 0-9 against South Carolina but 124-42 against everyone else in his five seasons with the Bulldogs.

The Gamecocks (33-4) beat Mississippi State for the third time this season, and 11th time in a row in the series.

Mississippi State trailed by 14 points in the third quarter, then got within 54-50 with 6:54 left but took two bad shots and followed that with an unforced turnover.

“That’s kind of where the game got away from us. We had it to 54-50, had the crowd going. We were right there,” Schaefer said. “Maybe it took all we had to get to that point and get it back after being down so bad. We didn’t have anything left.”