Manhattan ? Not even lighthearted jokes and goofy dancing would work.

For the first part of Kansas State guard Laurie Koehn’s 10-game absence after she injured her right foot, the junior three-point specialist was practically inconsolable. And her teammates tried nearly everything to get her to smile.

“For a while, nothing would cheer her up,” Kendra Wecker said. “She loves the game so much. We would be like, ‘Come on Laurie, be happy,’ and she would be like, ‘I’m going to bed.'”

Now, though, as the NCAA Tournament begins and Kansas State prepares for today’s opening-round game against Harvard, Koehn’s sadness appears to be in the past.

Since coming back Feb. 26 against Kansas University, Koehn has played in four straight games and shows no signs of going back to the bench.

“The foot feels fine,” Koehn said. “I’m 100 percent. It’s never fun to not be out there and to have to miss all these games during a special year. But I’m back now for the most exciting part.”

Koehn isn’t back to her 2002 freshman form, when she averaged 17.6 points a game and hit 122 three-pointers, the best in the nation and second-highest single-season total in NCAA history.

But she has made an impact.

She scored just nine points in her debut against the Jayhawks, but her three treys in the second half ignited a game-winning run.

Koehn has started in the last three games and played 40 minutes against Texas Tech in the Big 12 Conference tournament semifinals.