DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-It took five extra minutes, but the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team stretched its winning streak to three games, and won beat Bethune-Cookman for seventh straight time with a 63-60 overtime win at Moore Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

It was the Aggies first road victory since Dec. 3.

"The team played extremely well down in the clutch," said Aggies coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs, who is now four games away from her 500^th career win.  "We just did the things we needed to do. We grabbed rebounds.  We made stops when we had to.  I can't say enough about this aggressive team in Bethune-Cookman, but our kids played, they played well, and they played together. I'm just happy and very, very excited."

The lead changed hands eight times in the second half and overtime.  Junior center Nikia Gorham matched a season-high with 15 points, while junior forward JaQuayla Berry posted her fifth double-double of the season with a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Redshirt sophomore Amber Calvin added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists to the Aggies (10-12, 5-4) effort.

"They stepped up, they played well, they played consistent and this is what we've got to have," Bibbs said about her upperclassmen.  "We know that the younger kids are coming along, and we are looking for that leadership out of our upperclassmen."

 In overtime, the Aggies had a steal, two blocks and seven rebounds. The Wildcats went 1-for-9 in overtime, unable to overcome the Aggies.

Gorham scored first in the extra period, getting to the free throw line after being fouled by Amanda Hairston and making her first shot to give the Aggies the lead at 59-58.  A jumper by Isaac gave B-CU its final lead of the game. 

Calvin knotted the score at 60-60 with 2:17 left in overtime on a free throw.  Freshman Jessica Lyons gave the Aggies the winning points on a jumper to make it 62-60.  Calvin sealed the victory with another free throw shot with 19 seconds remaining. The Aggies collected three rebounds and forced two missed shots by the Lady Wildcats in the waning seconds to finish the game.

"We put them into a position defensively where we knew they could probably cause some turnovers," Bibbs said.  "They executed and executed extremely well.  When it's like that [down to the final seconds], that's when it's time to truly execute because one bad thing may cost you the game.  They kept their composure and they executed.  That's what we needed.   They did what they needed to do."

The Aggies and Wildcats played a much closer and intense contest than their first meeting of the season in Greensboro, where the Aggies came away with a 15-point victory.  

A jumper by forward Cleniece Roberts gave B-CU a 56-53 advantage with 2:49 left in the game.  But the Aggies scored the next five points.

A layup by Tiffanie Adair and a three-pointer by guard Amber Calvin gave A&T a 58-56 lead.  But Elum tied the game with two free throws with a minute to go in regulation. B-CU had an opportunity to win the game in the first 40 minutes as Calvin appeared to be pushed down trying to get open on an inbounds play. Berry threw the ball to Calvin as she was going down. The no call resulted in a turnover, giving the Wildcats the ball with 4.1 seconds remaining.  The Wildcats never got a shot off, sending the game into overtime.

"I told them we were going to win this game," Bibbs said.  "I told them that we really got to get down and play the defense."

Bibbs has been telling her teams they're going to win games for years, and she's been right more often than not as evidenced by her moving closer to becoming the first women's coach to record her 500^th victory at a Division I historically black college or university.

The Aggies will try to inch her even closer Monday at 5:30 p.m., as they travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida A&M in what will be a rematch of their competitive 70-68 tilt that FAMU won in Greensboro on Jan. 9.

"We're going against another defensive team, and a team that's at the top of the conference," Bibbs said about Monday's game.  "We're going to go in with our game plan and if we execute things right, we should be right in the thick of things with them."