SPOKANE, Wash. — UCLA graduate student Angela Dugalic was the first Bruins player on top of the ladder to trim the twine Sunday. 

She needed to hear the snip of the scissors slicing the net and feel her piece of history in her hand to know this moment was real. 

On this day a year ago, Dugalic and her teammates were consoling one another after LSU beat UCLA in the Sweet 16. 

But this time, the Bruins got their revenge. 

It was a hard-fought battle that included a bloody nose, back-and-forth scoring and wrestling matches for 50-50 balls. But in the end, UCLA showed why the Bruins have owned the No. 1 national ranking for most of the season as they held off the Tigers to win 72-65 and earn the program’s first NCAA Final Four berth. 

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“That was a really gritty win,” Lauren Betts told The Post. “Most people can say that we’re not ready for a team like LSU — obviously really scrappy, really aggressive and they don’t think we’re going to live up to that — but I think that we wanted that matchup and we were ready and we knew all along we were gonna get that win.” 

On a night when Betts wasn’t at her best, with LSU hounding the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 big with double-teams, the Bruins showed just how deep this team is. 

Gabriela Jaquez showed why the team calls her “All Gas Gabs,” finishing with team highs in points (18), rebounds (eight) and steals (three). 

“Gabs is truly the one [with] the most energy,” Betts said. “I don’t know where she gets it from consistently, but she never runs out of gas.” 

LSU had a chance to get ahead in the second quarter with Betts sitting out because of foul trouble. But a barrage of 3s, including four from Timea Gardiner, kept the Bruins afloat. 

Jaquez hit a dagger 3 late in the fourth quarter in front of her team’s bench, much to the amusement of her team. 

Betts, who sat out the entire second quarter because of foul trouble, finished with 17 points and seven rebounds and Gardiner added 15 points off the bench. 

LSU star Flau’Jae Johnson scored 16 of her team-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, but it was too late. 

“As competitors, nothing softens the blow that you’re this close to another Final Four,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “But being old like I am and being around awhile, I’ve learned to keep perspective, and time will help me think about things through the course of the year on things that we did that were really amazing.” 

Inspirational sayings can be printed on T-shirts, put on bulletin boards and repeated ad nauseam. 

Heck, UCLA coach Cori Close’s staff put up a blue-and-yellow “Believe” sign, inspired by Ted Lasso, in UCLA’s locker room ahead of its Sweet 16 game to serve as a reminder. 

But embodying that belief is a whole other battle. 

“If you would have said, ‘Hey, you’re going to win this game by hitting 10 3s,’ I would have told you you’re crazy,” Close said. “This is the lowest field-goal percentage we’ve had in a really long time. But … we’ve always said it’s going to be about selflessness and work ethic.” 

On Sunday, UCLA did that.