A year ago at this time, Franklin women's basketball had plenty of promise but a bevy of unanswered questions as it started its first season under a first-year head coach.

Fast forward to today, and most of the questions have been answered. The Grizzlies went 21-7, reaching the 20-win mark for the first time since 2013, and reached the HCAC Tournament championship game for the first time in 14 years. Ashley Blanch was named HCAC Coach of the Year in her debut season.

With a year under their belts together, the Griz are excited about the possibilities in year two now that they've been able to hit the ground running full speed in the preseason.

"Everybody was learning," Blanch said of the lead-in to last winter. "We didn't have anybody who knew exactly what myself or (assistant coach Cyleigh Wilson) were wanting to do, so we were teaching even seniors."

Now, she says, the newcomers are being brought up to speed by the veterans in real time during practice, which has sped up the process considerably.

"We already have a good upper hand," senior forward Payton Seay added. "We know what (Blanch) wants out of us, we know the type of things that she likes, and we knew from jump to be bought into everything she's telling us and giving us. So I think this year, there's a different kind of focus on our team."

And there's still a wealth of talent. Seay, an honorable mention All-HCAC pick last winter, is the team's top returning scorer (10.6 points per game) and rebounder (5.9 per game), and she's got plenty of proven help back alongside her as junior Molly Schulte (10.5 ppg, 85 assists, 37 steals, 84.3% on free throws) and senior Briley Munchel (7.9 ppg, 54.2% 3-point shooting, a team-high 105 assists) are back to lead a deep backcourt group.

Junior forward Erica Buening, the HCAC Newcomer of the Year as a freshman, is a proven inside-and-out threat when healthy, and sophomores Avery Kelley, Cameryn Ridderikhoff and Lydia Wright were all strong contributors during their rookie seasons.

The big question offensively will be this: How can the Grizzlies replace All-HCAC guard Jordan Coon and her team-leading 17.3 points a game? Blanch and her team are confident that they have the answer — or, rather, answers.

"Those points are out there, and they're going to have to come from somewhere — but we have people who can do it. That doesn't worry me at all," Schulte said. "There's 18 points to get distributed between a lot of people, and we have all the pieces that can do that."

"I think that there's more opportunities for everybody," Blanch agreed. "Just how we run our offense, and since we are transition-based too — the first person down, that's who we're looking for. Doesn't matter who it is."

The bigger concern in Blanch's mind is stopping opponents from scoring. Franklin allowed 64 points a game last year — good enough to be in the middle of the conference pack, but not good enough on certain nights.

"There were times where we lost big games — we lost at Anderson because we gave them 100 points," the coach said. "You're not going to win when someone scores more than you. We know we can score. We have to continuously get better at defense."

Franklin finished second behind Transylvania in the HCAC regular-season standings last year, and that's where the league's coaches have picked the Griz to finish again. Those two teams split their first two meetings, with each winning on their home court, before the host Pioneers vanquished the Grizzlies in the tourney final.

Being able to secure the top seed and host the tournament would make a difference, the players say, but so will being able to carry the same energy on the road that the team has at the Spurlock Center, where the Griz went 10-1 last season.

"Bringing that confidence like we do in the home games will be a big factor," Seay said. "No matter if it's a 30-minute bus ride or 5-hour bus ride, we just have to stay locked in and try to get where we are when we're playing at home."

The Grizzlies know they won't be able to sneak up on anybody this year. Expectations are high from the outside and even higher within the building — but the players are openly embracing that.

"I know there's been a lot of pressure," Munchel said. "People think, 'You're supposed to be good' ... but you've just got to use that as motivation. There's pressure because we're good, and we're going to be good. Be confident in that.

"The pressure's on the other team to beat us."