Gainesville, Fla. -- Stetson had the game right where they wanted it.
Leading by five points on the road with 12:42 to go, the Hatters were plagued by turnovers down the stretch before eventually falling 59-54 to host Florida Sunday afternoon at the O'Connell Center.
Myeisha Hall hit five 3-pointers en route to a career-high 22 points. Jama Sharp added 11 points as the Hatters dropped to 7-3 on the season.
Stetson turned the ball over 26 times, including 15 times in the final 20 minutes.
"In the first half, I don't think we rebounded very well, and in the second half, I don't think we took care of the ball," Stetson head coach Lynn Bria said. "We coughed the ball up too much and gave them too many easy baskets in the second half. We didn't deserve to win this game. They deserved to win."
Stetson trailed 36-30 early in the second half when Amber Porter's offensive putback started an 11-0 Hatter run. Hall followed with a 3-pointer, and Sharp drove the lane for a basket to put Stetson ahead 37-36. Two more baskets by Sharp and Porter gave Stetson a five-point lead with under 13 minutes to play, but Florida responded with a 15-0 run to take the lead for good.
The Hatters committed eight turnovers during the ensuing seven-minute scoring drought.
"It's hard to say. Some of them don't make any sense to me," Bria said trying to explain the turnovers. "There is no reason for them. Just a simple pass, and we don't make that. We just have to watch (film) and see why we are having them. We are going to have some because we want to play fast, but we shouldn't have this many turnovers in a game to anybody."
Stetson cut the 10-point deficit down to just three points with 2:10 to go but would pull no closer.
Porter finished with six points, nine rebounds and two blocks including the 150th of her career.
"I just didn't feel like we got the ball inside enough to Amber against the zone," Bria said. "It is something we are going to have to keep working on and get it corrected. I thought our man-to-man offense was very good."
Carlie Needles led the Gators (6-4) with 10 points.
Stetson will return home next weekend to host the 27th annual Hatter Classic. The Hatters will take on Campbell at 1 p.m. Friday and Texas State at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
Notes: Florida outrebounded Stetson 47-39 ... Aisha Turner made her Hatter debut, scoring three points ... Brianti Saunders went 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
