SAN MARCOS – Almost one year ago to the date, Westview High School’s girls basketball team stepped on Mission Hills’ Grizzly Pavilion floor and upset the reigning Open Division champions with a stunning one-point win.

“I could not, absolutely could not, let that happen again,” said Mission Hills junior Bay Cordova, last year’s CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year. “They sprinted to the middle of the floor and celebrated. That’s heartbreaking and it wasn’t happening again.”

And it didn’t. Cordova scored a game-high 25 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead second-ranked Mission Hills to a 52-45 win over Westview on Wednesday night.

For the Grizzlies, the reigning two-time Open Division champs, the win was their seventh in the last eight games, improving to 14-8, 5-0 in the Palomar League. Sixth-ranked Westview, which had won nine of 10, fell to 13-8, 4-1.

Five hours before tipoff, Mission Hills coach Chris Kroesch was talking about what makes Cordova special.

“She can be struggling, she can be missing shots for a quarter, come to the bench, sit down, go back in and her aggressiveness will not waver at all,” Kroesch said.

On Wednesday, Cordova was struggling from deep, missing six of seven 3-pointers. But when the game was on the line, she delivered.

In the third quarter, what had been a nine-point Mission Hills lead shrank to 29-28. The next trip down the floor, Cordova hit a corner 3. The next trip, Cordova hit a floater in the lane. Westview would get no closer than four the rest of the game.

“You can’t get down,” said Cordova, who came in averaging 18.2 points per game. “We were missing layups. I had to take over. It was winning time.”

Of Cordova’s performance, Westview head coach Melissa Peng said: “She’s special. A very, very good player.”

In a 110-70 loss on Saturday to Ontario Christian, the second-ranked team in the nation, Cordova put up 31 points.

Said Mission Hills senior, Kendall Nguyen: “I think Bay’s the best player in San Diego. She’s intense. When the game’s on the line, you want the ball in her hands.”

Nguyen was clutch, too, scoring eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“The ball came to me. Teammates found me. I was open and the ball went in,” said Nguyen, who came in averaging 4.3 points per game.

UC Santa Barbara-bound Westview senior Sarah Heyn scored 15 points, including three 3s. North Dakota-bound senior Mia Jacobson scored 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Wolverines.

The win came on Kroesch’s 47th birthday, but the man who has won six section championships, five in the Open Division, was not happy.”

“I’m not disappointed. I’m upset,” said Kroesch. “We didn’t compete. We didn’t hustle. We didn’t play defense. Honestly, I thought Westview played better. I think they deserved to win.”

“Compared to how we’ve been playing, no, it wasn’t our best,” said Nguyen. “We set a high standard. Tonight, we didn’t meet that standard. “

She paused for a moment, smiled, then added, “But it beats a loss.”

The Palomar League rivals met twice last year. There was Westview’s one-point win on the Grizzlies’ home floor and Mission Hills’ one-point win at Westview. The Division 1 powers will renew their rivalry Feb. 11 on the Wolverines’ floor.