SAN MARCOS — All throughout the day Friday, Mission Hills High School freshman Maya Akesson kept delivering the same message to coach Chris Kroesch:

“I’m ready, Coach.”

She said it during an afternoon walkthrough. Said it before the Grizzlies’ CIF San Diego Section Open Division home quarterfinal against La Jolla Country Day. Said it in the huddle during the game.

“I’m ready,” Akesson kept repeating.

Turns out she was. With the game tied at 36 going into the fourth quarter, Akesson scored nine points in the final eight minutes to lead the two-time reigning Open Division champions to a pulsating 53-46 win.

Akesson finished with 15 points. She came into the game averaging 5.9. Big things were expected from the 6-foot-1 freshman coming into the season. She had to wait her time on a deep team. But she’s coming on, scoring in double figures the last three games.

Mission Hills (19-10) advances to Wednesday’s semifinals at No. 1-seeded Francis Parker, which beat Victory Christian Academy 58-35. LJCD fell to 17-11. Both teams will advance to the Southern California Regionals.

“She wanted to be out there,” Kroesch said of Akesson. “She’s special. She wanted the moment.”

The game had the feel of a championship final. Players were risking floor burns, diving for loose balls. Tie-ups featured players aggressively yanking the ball.

“That was an intense game,” said Kroesch. “No one was giving in.”

It was a game of ebbs and flows. La Jolla Country Day led 15-13 after the first quarter. Mission Hills went on a 14-5 run to open the second quarter and led by seven before settling for a 27-22 halftime lead.

Reigning section Player of the Year Bay Cordova scored the first two times down the floor in the third quarter (a corner 3 then a baseline drive) to send the Grizzlies up 32-22. Cordova finished with a game-high 21.

Back came LJCD, and by the end of the third period, the game was knotted at 36.

Then up stepped Akesson, a guard who can attack the basket. She scored on a drive to the bucket, then grabbed an offensive rebound, retreated to the corner and buried a 3, then scored on another drive for a 43-36 lead.

The lead expanded to 10, but LJCD wouldn’t go away.

The Torreys cut the deficit to 48-46 on a 3-pointer by senior point guard Safiyah Sugapong with 57 seconds to play. With senior Izzy Medina taking the ball out of bounds in front of the Grizzlies’ bench, Kroesch told her to put a little more arc in her shot. She missed her first three attempts from deep.

Medina found herself open on the wing and buried a 3 with 31.5 seconds to play for a 51-46 lead that all but clinched the game.

The difference came at the 3-point line. Mission Hills hit 10 treys. The Torreys netted only three.

Sugapong led LJCD with 19 points. Sophomore Kennedy Walton scored 10.

“I just knew I needed to show up for my teammates,” said Akesson. “That’s the most important thing, showing up for your team. At the end of the day, basketball’s a team sport. Showing up for everyone is all that matters, not just for yourself.”

There were two upsets in the Open quarterfinals. Seventh-seeded Grossmont took down second-seeded Mater Dei Catholic 62-54 and sixth-seeded Westview beat third-seeded Cathedral Catholic 55-40. Mia Jacobson scored 22 points for Westview. Sarah Heyn added 14.