PHOENIX – Their coach had been pushing them toward this moment all season, through every triumph, every heartache.

Get better, no matter the result, she told her players. Focus on the process. Play with freedom and joy, surrendering the outcome.

The belief was that it could lead to a day like Sunday.

After saying she would not allow one 40-minute game to define the season, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close might want to consider relenting on that stance, if just a bit, given the display her team put on in the NCAA title game.

Taking it to South Carolina from the opening tip, the Bruins put together their most complete game of the tournament, rolling to a 79-51 victory inside the Mortgage Matchup Center.

It was convincing.

It was dominant.

It was historic.

For the first time in program history, UCLA is the NCAA champion.

“It’s a storybook, right?” Close told the California Post. “That’s the definition of competitive greatness, according to coach [John Wooden], is a byproduct of all the work and being able to be your best when your best is needed.”

Playing fast and free, UCLA (37-1) steadily built its lead from 11 points in the first quarter to 13 by halftime to 29 entering the fourth quarter. That made the final 10 minutes a head start on the celebration.

Having long honored the 1978 AIAW title team led by Ann Meyers Drysdale and Denise Curry, UCLA now has a new banner to raise thanks to the dedication and sacrifice of so many, including six seniors and graduate students.

“There is no better way we could hope to end our career,” Bruins point guard Kiki Rice said. “We played the last possible minutes of basketball that you could play in the season. We are the only team that’s ending their season with a win.”

After they put on their championship hats and cut down the net, confetti fluttering in the air, Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Charlisse Leger-Walker reprised the dance routine they’ve been breaking out for more than a month now.

The festivities were just getting started.

Close broke out her own dance moves in the locker room. Rice and Close entered the postgame interview room wearing ski goggles, having donned them for protection from spraying water.

It was a celebration that few so-called experts saw coming.

Betts acknowledged reading that most basketball analysts, including everyone from ESPN, had picked South Carolina to win.

Not that she cared.

“We just won a championship,” Betts said after being selected the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, “so you know what, I don’t really have much to say about that.”

Her play said plenty.

Persevering through a dry throat that forced her to sit out several minutes in the first half, Betts notched her final double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds to go with two blocks.

Betts said she felt the Bruins were destined to win, making up for their Final Four disappointment from last year, based on their level of focus in practice on Saturday.

“When you have a certain energy in practice,” Betts said, “you wake up the next morning, you’re like, we have done everything you can possibly do to be ready for a game. It’s just like the confidence that you have.”

Jaquez nearly flirted with a triple-double against the Gamecocks, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, providing another example of a relentless team that refused to be denied.

“When we decided we wanted to do something,” Jaquez said, “we did it.”

South Carolina (36-4) could not overcome its wretched shooting. The Gamecocks made just 29% of their shots and missed 12 of 14 3-pointers.

UCLA’s guards did a phenomenal job of disrupting their counterparts, preventing South Carolina from running its offense the way it wanted.

“If you’re going to lose to a team, like UCLA,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said, “you want to lose to a team that just really out-works you, out-executed you, made it very difficult for you to perform at a high level.

“It was a direct reflection of what they did to us.”

The day featured a joyous blending of new and old UCLA stars.

Honored as part of a halftime ceremony recognizing the 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s team, Meyers Drysdale lifted up her red shirt to reveal a blue UCLA one underneath.

Once again, it was a great day to be a Bruin.

The retired jerseys of Meyers Drysdale and Curry could be joined in the Pauley Pavilion rafters by others from this team who had their fingerprints all over elevating this program to new heights.

“I don’t think I’m clear-headed enough to have an opinion,” Close told the Post when asked about the possibility of more retired jerseys, “so we’ll see. But I wouldn’t mind.”

Asked what she thought Wooden would say if they were able to speak about this championship run, Close said the legendary coach wouldn’t care as much about the title as her team having stayed true to its process.

“I hope I would make him proud,” Close said, “by realizing and recognizing that this is a byproduct of what’s happened in their habits, in their love for each other, in committing to a process over a long period of time.”

As a UCLA basketball coach and her team showed once again, that formula leading to unprecedented success, it’s a process that works.