TAMPA – The Bulls knocked off Providence in thrilling fashion Monday night to catapult them into the Big East Tournament as the No. 9 seed. 

Senior Jasmine Wynne missed a game-winning jumper with 20 seconds left in the game.  Providence guard Rachel Barnes was fouled and made both of her free throws to give Providence the lead, 53-50.  Inga Orekhova then hit a three pointer with 5.6 seconds remaining in the second half to tie the game at 53-53 and send it to overtime.

Orekhova led all scorers with 17 points and the Bulls' lone senior, Wynne, added 15 points on senior night to lead the Bulls past Providence, 64-56, before a crowd of 604 at the USF Recreation Center.

 “I wanted to win today and it was Wynne's last home game so it had to go in,” said Orekhova.

Senior guard Wynne scored in double figures for the 23rd straight game in her final home game of her career, but the Bulls will play on as they head to the Big East Tournament as the No.9 seed where they will face Pittsburgh (8-21, 0-16 Big East) on Friday at 2 p.m. in Hartford, Conn.

“She (Wynne) has meant a lot to our program,” said head coach Jose Fernandez. “I couldn't be more proud of her.”

Shalethia Stringfield scored six points and Akila McDonald added five points off the bench.  The bench helped the Bulls keep the game close with 17 points on 55 percent shooting from the field.

“It was great how the team stepped up tonight,” said Wynne.

The Bulls were down early in the first half before they went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at nine on free throws by Stringfield with just over 11 minutes left in the half.

USF trailed the Friars for most of the first half before going on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 28-27, before halftime.

The Bulls defense dominated forcing the Friars forcing them to commit 21 turnovers and shoot 31.1 percent from the field.

Overtime was no different.

The Bulls took the early lead on another three by Orekhova and did not look back, clinching the game, 64-56 to improve to 13-1 in the past 14 overtime games that Fernandez has coached.

USF (16-14, 8-8) went 3-13 in the Big East last year and 8-8 in the Big East this year.  The five win improvement is the largest improvement in the league, despite not having last year's leading scorer Andrea Smith for the entire season.

USF will head to the Big East Tournament as the ninth seed and play against Pittsburg in the first round on Friday at 2 p.m. in Hartford, Conn.