The scene from Saturday’s Atlantic Sun Conference championship game — watching Florida Atlantic University players and coaches embrace and later cut down victory nets — was actually four years in the making.

That’s how long it took the Florida Atlantic women’s basketball program to get back in position to challenge for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after falling just short in 2002 — when Georgia State rebounded a missed shot and scored at the buzzer for a shocking one-point victory.

Even more devastating to Florida Atlantic’s program the next two seasons were the unexpected departures of two of its top players — both All-Conference performers — who opted not to return after becoming pregnant.

“It was tough,’’ FAU coach Chancellor Dugan said. “We had to replace them with freshmen and that’s tough. It’s been kind of one thing after another, but this group has held together. These seniors said we were going to do it this year. No more excuses.’’

That’s what made FAU’s postgame celebration of its 74-63 victory over Gardner-Webb for the A-Sun championship — locking up the school’s first NCAA tournament berth — particularly poignant, given the struggles that resulted since the last time the Owls were in the same spot.

The team convened Monday evening at a campus sports bar, amongst family and friends, to continue enjoying the spoils, watching their name pop up on the giant screen in front them as a 16th seed in the San Antonio Regional.

“When our name came up, everybody just went crazy,’’ Dugan said. “To see your name in that bracket was something I’ll never forget.”

FAU (20-10) meets top-seeded and fifth-ranked LSU (27-3) in an opening-round game at about 1 p.m. Saturday at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium.

“Everybody remembers the first and this is something we’ve been talking about it all year long,’’ said Dugan, 99-103 in seven seasons at the Boca Raton-based school. “It’s a privilege to be there since there’s only 64 teams playing. Then to get a No. 16 seed and draw LSU, it’s going to be a very tough task.”

Dugan vividly recalls the last time FAU nearly punched its ticket for a NCAA bid four years earlier.

The depth-thin Owls team built a 14-point first-half lead despite losing their best player for the game with a broken ankle.

Then momentum swung to Georgia State in the second half, who led by as many as 10 points, before FAU battled back to lead by six. The Owls then lost two starters to fouls, leaving them with a pair of walk-ons to help get through the final three minutes.

The lead exchanged hands three times down the stretch but FAU held a one-point lead in the final seconds.

“One of their guards shot a three and the ball went halfway down,’’ Dugan said. “Instead of thinking about blocking out, the ball popped out and we missed a block out and the girl put it back in at the buzzer to win the game.’’

FAU went 14-14 the next year before back-to-back losing seasons.

That set the stage for this season — the school’s winningest — with three mature senior leaders in Shontavia Williams, Amanda Bulin and Sharia Young leading the way, coupled with the infusion of three freshmen and a pair of junior college signees for a team that returned four starters and eight letterwinners from a 12-16 team.

They’ve melded into a team that overcame a 0-4 start and 3-7 record to reel off 17 wins in their last 20 games, capped by a sweep through the A-Sun tournament by nearly double digits.

“The seniors on this team have just been incredible,’’ Dugan said. “They’ve had an amazing will and spirit. The kids we added have definitely helped with our depth and size in inside. It’s been a good mix.”

FAU’s slow start was attributed to having been displaced by Hurricane Wilma, which struck Oct. 24 and caused structural damage to the gym’s roof and coaches offices, forcing the team to practice and play several of its games off campus.

The Owls did have a couple of near misses on the court, losing to Florida State (76-63) and Georgetown (59-53) before embarking on conference play, the same league that produced Stetson, the first NCAA tournament opponent of LSU last season.

Dugan said the team’s first crossroads in the season occurred in defeat instead of victory when FAU, trailing by 19 points at halftime, was hammered in a Jan. 19 home game by Belmont, 71-50.

“I came in the next day and said this was enough and this is what we’re going to do,’’ she said. “We got out on the practice floor and worked their tails off. We did a bunch of defensive stuff and ran a bunch and got their attention and focus. We went on a couple of rolls after that.”

FAU, which regularly plays 10 players a minimum of 10 minutes a game, went on to win five straight game after that, a prelude to what was about to transpire.

The Owls won 14 of their next 16 games, half of which were by double-figures, including the A-Sun tournament championship over Gardner-Webb where Williams scored 26 points and hit four of her team’s season-high 10 3-pointers.

Williams, who played against LSU’s Sylvia Fowles at Miami’s Jackson High, was named the tournament MVP after averaging 23.5 points and nine rebounds. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 16.2 during the regular season, while Bulin averaged 10.6 during her team’s last 15 games.

“I think our kids know what a special occasion this is,’’ Dugan said. “They want to enjoy every moment of it.’’