The two sides of Turner

Dominant in the low post. Aggressive. Intimidating.

These are all words attached to the on-court demeanor of stalwart sophomore forward Heather Turner of the women's basketball team. However, off the court, it's a completely different story for the Bulls' leading scorer.

"I have a good sense of humor," Turner said. "I'm a little silly at times. I like to make my team laugh."

Getting her team to laugh seems to come easy for the West Seneca, N.Y., native, who assumes her dual role as both a powerful forward and the team clown. With her on-court skills and her loaded personality, Turner fulfills both duties. Her antics drive away the team's boredom.

"The team calls me Tourette's because I'll just bust out with different noises," Turner said with a chuckle. "It will be a dull moment and I'll just have to break it with some strange noise for no reason."

Turner, the 2004-2005 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, was nicknamed Lady Shaq in high school at Mount Mercy Academy because of her bruising style of play. However, Shaq isn't known for doing "the bunny hop."

"On a road trip, we had this thing that we came up with as a long joke: the bunny hop," Turner said. "Sometimes the coach will call it out and make me do the bunny hop just for the fun of it."

"It started at dinner one time," she continued. "One of our friends used to have a bunny and apparently the Czech eat rabbit so our friend was really upset. We were laughing and I just started doing the bunny hop. We have humorous practices."

Laughs during practice are especially likely with Turner around, especially when she shoots the ball off the shot clock at Alumni Arena.

"One day in practice we had like three seconds left on the shot clock and somebody had to shoot, and I shot it," Turner said. "Yet instead of aiming at the rim, I aimed at the shot clock because that's what I was staring at. So I would have made it if the basket was the shot clock."

Turner's upbringing has undoubtedly made her the personality and the player that she is today. She is the daughter of Leamon and Lisa Turner and has an older brother Aaron and an older sister Jessica, who is a senior forward at Niagara University. Introduced to the game of basketball by their father, all three siblings have grasped that competitive edge.

"There is always a competitive nature between us, especially with me and my sister," Turner said. "Being the two girls, we always see who is better. But we also help each other out at the same time and my brother is always refereeing us and telling us what we need to improve on."

The sibling rivalry and competitive drive has contributed in turning Turner into the force that she is. She leads the MAC in shooting percentage with 64.1 percent, is second in rebounding, snatching 8.1 boards a game and is 12th in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game. Despite her staggering statistics, Turner remains humble and gives credit to her teammates.

"I try not to focus on stats," Turner said. "My goal is to help the team out as much as I can and do what they need me to do. I produce what I need to for the team."

Turner added that playing under a coach that is as distinguished as Linda Hill-MacDonald doesn't hurt either.

"I couldn't ask for a better coach," Turner said. "I feel really comfortable with her. She helps me out so much and I have a lot of confidence because of her. She believes in me and the team and it's great to have someone like that."

Turner and the Bulls (7-12, 2-6 MAC) look to gain confidence as they head into the last month of play before the MAC Tournament in March. Buffalo's next contest will be against conference foes Ball State (12-7, 5-3 MAC) Saturday at 1 p.m. in Muncie, Ind.