ELON, North Carolina – UNCW senior guard Ahyiona Vason has certainly enjoyed playing in the Colonial Athletic Association Women's Basketball Championship over the last two years.
 
The senior guard, who set a career high with 24 points in last year's tournament against Northeastern, tallied a team-high 20 points in this year's opening round game against Charleston to lift the No. 9-seeded Seahawks to a 69-55 victory over the eighth-seeded Cougars at Elon University's Schar Center on Wednesday afternoon.
 
UNCW, which ran its record to 10-20 on the season, advances to the quarterfinals on Thursday and will face top-seeded Drexel at noon. Charleston, meanwhile, has its season come to an end with a 13-17 mark.
 
One of four UNCW players to score in double figures, Vason sank 8-of-13 shots from the field, including both of her three-point attempts, while converting both of her free throws. The Montgomery, Ala., product also grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists.
 
Senior guard Lacey Suggs, who was honored before the game as the CAA's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, chipped in 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field and added five rebounds and three assists.
 
Redshirt senior guard GiGi Smith contributed 13 points with five assists and four rebounds while senior guard Moriah Crisp tallied a season-high 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including a 2-for-4 showing from long range, while collecting a game-high seven steals with four assists.
 
Charleston, which split the regular season series with UNCW, was led by sophomore guard Tyler Collins' game-high 28 points. Collins, who hails from Atlanta, Ga., was 7-for-19 from the field but converted all 11 of her free throw tries.
 
Sophomore guard Madison Taylor added 12 points with three rebounds for the Cougars.
 
Key Moment: The Seahawks, who never trailed in the game, surged to a quick 16-2 lead in the game's opening six minutes and never looked back en route to securing the victory. Suggs led the early outburst by scoring seven of her points.
 
Game Notes:

• UNCW leads the all-time series against Charleston by a 16-13 margin and has won seven of the last nine pairings between the two teams … The Seahawks also own a 2-1 edge in games played in the CAA Championship against the Cougars.
• UNCW, which is making its 36th all-time appearance in the CAA Championship, improved to 20-35 all-time in the league's postseason event.
• The Seahawks have reached the CAA quarterfinals in 13 of the last 14 seasons, including each of the last four tournaments.
• UNCW has won six of its last seven CAA Championship first round contests and stand 10-5 all-time in the tournament's opening round.
• UNCW and Charleston each tallied 37 rebounds in Wednesday's opening round game … After being outrebounded in 10 consecutive games from Jan. 12-Feb. 16, the Seahawks have been outrebounded just once in the last six outings.
• In two career CAA Championship games, Vason has averaged 22.0 points per game while shooting 17-for-26 from the field … The senior guard shot 9-for-13 in last year's quarterfinal loss to Northeastern before her 8-of-13 showing on Thursday.
• With her 14 points against Charleston on Thursday, Suggs moved past Sonya Pickard (1981-85) into 14th place on the Seahawks' career scoring list … The White Lake, N.C., native now owns 1,059 points in 94 career games, including a career-best 383 points this season.
• Suggs also registered her sixth double-digit scoring effort in the last seven games and has scored in double figures in 22-of-30 games this season.
• Smith authored her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring performance with her 13-point effort against Charleston … During the last five games, the Norfolk, Va., guard is scoring 17.6 points per outing.
• Crisp posted the fifth double-digit scoring effort of her college career.

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