Chen in tradition that made the capacity crowd of 19,731 gasp — and, possibly, at the watch party in Pauley Pavilion, too.

The Huskies came out looking like they were working off the answer key; the Bruins came out rushing and hurrying.

UCLA immediately had trouble with its entry passes that are so important to its offense, and finished the first period with six turnovers that turned into 10 UConn points in a game the Bruins were losing, at that point, by 10.

Close implored her team to keep it’s composure. Assistant Tasha Brown told them, “Lock in!” Assistant James Clark: “Stay solid!” And guard Kiki Rice kept telling her teammates: “It’s OK. It’s OK.”

But UCLA kept digging its hole, kept misfiring and turning over the ball. Eight more turnovers stacked up in the second quarter, nine more points gifted to the Huskies, who had an answer for everything, swarming, hitting, and blowing air into their ballooning lead. They led 42-22 at halftime.

“A lot of it was self-inflicted,” Rice said.

Losing the third quarter — so often the Bruins’ big quarter — 18-15 seemed like something of a moral victory. But the fourth quarter also belonged to the Huskies, 25-14.

“This was somewhat unexpected,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “You always go into these games, this time of the year, expecting it to be incredibly, incredibly difficult — not that it wasn’t, our guys played as hard as you can.

“I don’t think we made a mistake the entire evening.”

Huskies freshman Sarah Strong — the daughter of former Spark Alison Feaster — led UConn with 22 points and eight rebounds. Azzi Fudd added 19 points, and San Marino’s Chen, a graduate transfer guard from Princeton and former Flintridge Prep standout, chipped in with six points and five assists.

Overall, the Huskies shot 55% (33 for 60) from the field and 43.8% (7 for 16) from 3-point range. UCLA made only 38.5% (20 for 52) of its field goal attempts and missed all but four of its 16 3-point attempts. And beside Betts’ tally, no one on the Bruins scored more than Rice, who had eight points, followed by six points from Angela Dugalic.

UConn was the only team this year in either the women’s or men’s Final Fours that was not a No. 1 seed — and still, the Huskies were a 7.5-point favorite Friday — which seemed, before the game, mighty excessive to UCLA fans. It was conservative. UConn’s lopsided victory was the largest margin of victory in a women’s Final Four game.

There’s a reason the Huskies are widely considered favorites to win it all. Which is to say, to win their 12th.

To do it, UConn (36-3) has just South Carolina — a third consecutive No. 1 seed in the Huskies path, and the defending champions — to beat in Sunday’s national championship.

Already, the Huskies have vanquished both USC and UCLA, L.A.’s two starry-eyed, top-seeded rivals both auditioned for the lead part this season thinking they had a good shot at it. Instead they were cast as The Other Teams in the Paige Buckets Story.

Bueckers — who was the national player of the year as a freshman, who ranks third in points and ninth in assists in UConn’s rich history, who had to overcome a torn ACL and a fractured tibial plateau and a torn meniscus — clearly is not trying to go 0 for 4 in Final Fours.

Some of us thought the Huskies might not necessarily have UCLA’s versatility and depth, and certainly not a cheat code like Lauren Betts — who on Friday, had 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting, five rebounds, one block. But they had something else. They had the benefit of being able to play like they’d been here before, because, well, they’re here all the time.

Twenty-four Final Four trips in total, and 16 of the past 17. UConn players don’t even cut down the nets to celebrate clearing the Elite Eight. Why would they? Job’s not finished.

Neither is UCLA’s.

The Bruins have more breaking through to do, still have that big break they’re dreaming of.

Won’t be easy, and nothing is guaranteed, least of all trips to the Final Four. This was UCLA’s first since 1979, when the Bruins’ Intercollegiate Athletics for Women’s championship defense fell just short.

But talk about a springboard into 2025-26: They’ll return Betts, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and the first NCAA Division I player since South Carolina/Las Vegas Aces great A’ja Wilson to record at least 650 points, 300 rebounds and 100 blocks in a season.

And they’ll bring aboard her younger sister, Sienna, who was just named MVP at the McDonald’s All American Game. They’ll bring in Charlisse Leger-Walker, a touted veteran transfer from Washington State transfer who missed this season rehabbing a torn ACL.

And they should reunite the bulk a team that won 23 consecutive games and beat 12 ranked opponents. That tied a Big Ten record for most victories in a season, with 34.