The Harvard women's basketball team suffered a setback over the weekend at the hands of a most unlikely opponent.

The Crimson's game at the University of New Hampshire scheduled for last Saturday afternoon was postponed indefinitely after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health quarantined the entire Harvard team to campus because of exposure to Bordetella pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough.

Co-captain Sarah Russell was treated for whooping cough in October, but she recovered fully. While many players have been sick since then, primarily with respiratory trouble, no one was treated for whooping cough until last week.

Freshman forward Sharon Nunamaker is the only team member who has been diagnosed with B. pertussis, and she was released from Stillman Infirmary at University Health Services (UHS) yesterday after a mandatory five-day confinement. Freshman guard Katie Gates went to UHS showing typical symptoms of B. pertussis and was admitted as well. She is due for release on Wednesday.

Because whooping cough is difficult to diagnose due to its flu-like symptoms, every member of the team received a prescription for antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

"I don't remember any year that we haven't gone through a bout of illness," Russell said. "We're going to run into some bumps, but we don't look for excuses."

Harvard is off to a 2-5 start, its worst in five years, but the team has not been at full strength since its 81-74 overtime victory against Boston University in the Crimson's first game of the season. This run in with whooping cough is only the latest in a bizarre string of injuries, illnesses and strange circumstances that have plagued the women's basketball team since the preseason.

Russell and fellow co-captain Suzie Miller both spent the majority of the preseason ill. Russell had walking pneumonia in addition to her whooping cough, and Miller had a virus that doctors could not diagnose for two months. Both have recovered, although Miller had a head cold last week from which she is still recuperating.

Gates sustained a broken bone in her shooting hand in the Crimson's second game of the season and has played with the injury ever since. Junior guard Countney Egelhoff has been nagged by an injured finger since early in the season as well.

Sophomore guard Carrie Larkworthy is out for the season after tearing theanterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.Senior center Rose Janowski and sophomore pointguard Lisa Kowal both missed Harvard's last game,an 82-77 loss to Rhode Island on Wednesday.

Janowski was suffering from the flu and did nottravel with the team. She has returned to limitedpractice, but she is still far from fullyrecovered. Kowal has a strained muscle in her backthat has limited her breathing, and has had chestpains for the last week. She is not practicing andis scheduled to see a cardiologist today.

Even the coaching staff cannot seem to stayhealthy. Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith missed practiceon Friday because of what appears to be a viralinfection. She was recovering over the weekend andis expected to return today.

"I don't think we're not taking care ofourselves," said Miller, who missed a game for thefirst time in her career on Dec. 7 due to a RhodesScholarship interview. "This has just been abizarre year. It's been very unfortunate. But it'sa test just like any other to see how strong wecan come back."

Harvard has little time to get itself better.The Crimson has two tough games in South Floridathis weekend. Harvard will take on FloridaInternational on Friday night in Miami and thenhead north to Boca Raton to battle FloridaAtlantic