A slow start proved to be a mere speed bump for Franklin women's basketball on Wednesday evening.

Molly Schulte's 18 points led a group of five double-digit scorers as the Grizzlies finished out the regular season with an 88-77 victory at Manchester.

The Grizzlies (19-6, 14-4 HCAC) head into conference tournament play as the No. 2 seed. They'll host No. 7 Bluffton in a quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21, 2 p.m.) at the Spurlock Center.

"I'm really happy about the contributions in all the stat categories," Griz coach Ashley Blanch said, "but even happier with the grit we played with when things weren't going our way. We are excited to go into the tournament after a high-energy win!"

Manchester used an 11-1 run to go up by a 23-14 margin late in the first quarter and were up by as many as 10 with 6:32 to go in the half before Franklin punched back with a flurry of eight straight points over the next 78 seconds. Payton Seay scored in the paint, and Schulte and Jordan Coon followed with 3-pointers to make it 30-28 at the 5:14 mark. The Spartans then hit two 3s to go back up by eight, but the Grizzlies put together a 13-0 run late in the half — one that was bookended by a pair of treys from Kate Breeden — and took a 45-40 edge into the break.

The game stayed tight through the third period, with the Spartans cutting the deficit to one on four different occasions, but the Griz held onto the lead and then seized control by scoring the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead out to 76-61 with 4:44 left. Lydia Wright opened that run with a pair of baskets and Avery Kelley also contributed four points.

Franklin's advantage grew as large as 84-66 before Blanch emptied the bench for the final minutes.

Schulte added a team-high six assists for the Grizzlies, who got 17 points from Coon, 13 from Briley Munchel and 11 from Wright. Breeden posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kelley contributed eight points and three steals off the bench, while Seay had seven points and matched Breeden's 10 boards.

The Grizzlies were a toasty 10 of 21 from long range, led by three makes each from Coon and Munchel. They also had assists on 20 of their 31 made field goals overall.