Thanksgiving week is all about rebounding for the UNM women’s basketball team.

With three home games on this week’s schedule, the Lobos are looking to rebound from a loss to Oklahoma State in the preseason WNIT semifinals.

How do they accomplish that? In part, by rebounding.

“Boxing out was the key,” sophomore Sara Halasz said of her team’s practice sessions since the OSU defeat. “Coach (Don Flanagan) said we’d do it every day until we got sick of it. And that’s what we did.”

Flanagan wasn’t at all satisfied with his team’s work on the boards when Oklahoma State outrebounded UNM 45-34 and racked up 16 second-chance points on their way to a 70-56 win. As a result, he force-fed the Lobos rebounding fundamentals — starting with boxing opponents away from the basket.

“We’ve got to do a better job,” Flanagan said. “You’ll see us working hard at boxing out this week.”

It starts tonight when the Lobos (2-1) host Northern Arizona (0-4) at the Pit. Considering that the Lumberjacks dropped an exhibition to New Mexico Highlands, the matchup certainly ranks as a should-win game for the Lobos.

Flanagan doesn’t deny that but points out that NAU has not played a home game and has steadily gotten closer to winning. The Lumberjacks dropped a 74-69 decision at Ball State on Saturday.

“They’re young and pretty talented,” Flanagan said. “They’re just a little experience away from being a pretty decent team.”

Freshman guard Amy Patton has gotten off to a particularly auspicious start, leading the Big Sky Conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game. Junior forward Lauren Hoisington also averages double figures at 10.5 points a contest.

UNM’s players seem aware of NAU’s strengths and don’t want to take even a winless team lightly.

“I don’t think of any game as ‘supposed to win,’” sophomore Lauren Taylor said. “Underdogs can come up and win at any time. That’s what sports movies are made of.”

Still, Flanagan included getting extensive minutes for his reserves and working on new defensive sets among his goals for tonight.

“The biggest things are to execute and play well,” he said. “I didn’t think we executed very well in our last game.”

The Lobos admittedly were still a bit frustrated Monday about the final five minutes of the Oklahoma State game. UNM trailed just 53-52 but suddenly went ice cold and was outscored 17-4 the rest of the way.

“I think it was definitely a winnable game,” Taylor said. “We just had some key breakdowns at the end. That’s not gonna happen again.”

Flanagan conceded the defeat could prove beneficial as it pointed out chinks in the Lobos’ armor — including rebounding and execution against a zone defense. UNM has addressed both in recent days.

“A lot of times losses teach you something,” Flanagan said, “but you don’t want a steady diet of it.”

Particularly not on Thanksgiving week.

NOTES: The Lobos will again be without senior Eileen Weissmann tonight as she continues to recover from a high-ankle sprain. Weissmann was in a walking boot and did not participate in Monday’s practice. She hopes to return for the weekend’s Thanksgiving tournament in which the Lobos will face North Carolina A&T and either Yale or Toledo.