TAMPA – Jasmine Wynne showed no signs of rust in her return to the court Saturday night.

USF's leading scorer posted a game-high 14 points off the bench in a 62-50 victory over Pittsburgh before a crowd of 679 at the USF Recreation Center. 

Wynne had missed the past three games while recovering from a concussion and grabbed eight rebounds after finding out she was cleared to play at about 1 p.m. Saturday.

“It was great to come back. My teammates, coaches and trainers all encouraged me,” the senior said after the Bulls' third straight win. “It was real tough watching, but I knew they could do it.”

Andrell Smith has been a big factor in USF's recent success and posted her second straight double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Tahira Johnson scored a career-high 12 points and Inga Orekhova added 11 to help the Bulls improve to 8-3 at home.

“We protected our home floor,” head coach Jose Fernandez said.

Before pulling away late, it took a while for USF to grab a lead against an 8-18 Pitt team that is now 0-13 in Big East play.

USF (15-13, 7-7) went ahead for the first time with less than a second to go before halftime when Wynne's jumper beat the buzzer and gave the Bulls a 31-29 lead.

Wynne got into double figures before the half was over with 10 and extended her double-digit scoring streak to 21 games. She scored six during the Bulls' 12-6 run that paved the way for the lead.

Smith also had 10 at the break and has scored in double figures in the past five contests.

Pitt was able to stay ahead for most of the half by outscoring USF, 22-10, in the paint and capitalizing off 12 turnovers by the Bulls in the first 8 minutes.

“We only committed five turnovers the rest of the way and shot very well from the free-throw line,” Fernandez said.

The Panthers tied the game in the opening minute of the second half, but Orekhova's 3-pointer sparked a 9-2 run that gave the Bulls a 40-33 advantage.

Pitt cut its deficit to 40-37, Orekhova answered back with another 3 and the Bulls' lead never dipped below six the rest of the way. At one point, the Panthers had a drought of 4 minutes, 12 seconds between field goals.

“The difference was in the second half I thought we defended a lot better and we rebounded,” Fernandez said.

The Bulls head to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame next Saturday before wrapping up the regular season at home against Providence on Feb. 27.