Basketball On The Internet.

ILLAWARRA's WA-born guard Johnny Narkle joined Wani Swaka Lo Buluk to rock the Wildcats in Perth after Melbourne locked up the Taipans in Cairns in yesterday's NBL, while the new Tasmania Jewels WNBL club had no phobias at the Silverdome, inflicting Sydney's first loss.

The Jewels' NBL brother JackJumpers struggle to win at Launceston's venue but with Ella Tofaeono (12 points at 75 per cent) enjoying her best WNBL game and Steph Reid (17 points, 3-of-4 threes, 6 assists), Darcee Garbin (13 points, 7 rebounds), Brooke Basham (13 points) and Gianna Kneepkens  (15 points) all firing, Sydney was chasing for all but eight minutes.

Mia Jacobs and Katie Deeble off the Jewels bench also were solid, scoring nine points apiece.

Issy Bourne (16 points, 4 assists) started well for Sydney and Agnes Emma-Nnopu (14 points, 6 rebounds) was her energetic self but Tasmania managed to contain the hottest Flames for a second home win.

Geelong, still missing starting championship-winning guards Maddi Rocci and Bec Cole, could not contain Canberra, Amy Atwell leading a balanced Caps attack.

Han Xu's double-double of 25 points and 12 boards paced the Venom but a road win was inevitable here for Canberra.

And that remained the story of the NBL's Round 7 where the Hawks pantsed Perth in Perth and United dropped a bomb on Cairns in Cairns.

Keanu Pinder again started the game with a quick foul and Josh Oduro had open slather to control the paint, which he did to the tune of a game-high 26 points.

Losing Jaylin Galloway early to injury did the Taipans no favours and Cole Anthony had his way with Jaylon Brown.

Expecting an easy home win, Perth suffered an ignominious defeat to the league's worst performing team. For Illawarra, it wasn't the stars who did it, either. (With the exceptions of import Kelan Martin and new centre Makur Maker).

Narkle (11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals), Swaka Lo Buluk (15 points at 63 per cent) and Will Hickey (9 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) showed the Hawks the way to the Promised Land.

Martin's 23 points and Maker's 21 were huge, Perth needing Anthony Dell'Orso to catch fire and bring it back into the contest. But in truth, winning the boards 45 to 31 reflected Illawarra's intent.

NBL Results Round 7, Saturday

Melbourne United 113 (Oduro 26, Anthony 25, Ingles 16, Travers 14, Waardenburg 12; Travers, Anthony 7 rebs; Ili, Travers, Anthony 4 assts) d Cairns Taipans 97 (J.McVeigh 19, Pinder 16, K.Galloway, Smith 11, Lewis 10; Bolden 7 rebs; J.McVeigh, Brown 7 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre.

Illawarra Hawks 105 (Martin 23, Maker 21, Swaka Lo Buluk 15, Narkle, Harvey 11; Hickey 8 rebs; Hickey 8 assts) d Perth Wildcats 98 (Dell'Orso 21, Windler 19, Doolittle 16, Pepper 13, Knight 12; Windler 9 rebs; Doolittle 7 assts) at RAC Arena, Perth.

WNBL Results Round 3, Saturday

Tasmania Jewels 93 (Reid 17, Kneepkens 15, Basham, Garbin 13, Tofaeono 12; Garbin 7 rebs; Reid 6 assts) d Sydney Flames 85 (Emma-Nnopu, Bourne 16, Shuyu 14, Dodson, Nicholson 10; Dodson 8 rebs; Shelley, Nicholson 6 assts) at the Silverdome, Launceston.

Canberra Capitals 77 (Atwell 25, N.Puoch 15, McConnell 8; M.Puoch 9 rebs; McConnell 9 assts) d Geelong Venom 68 (Xu 25, Rotunno 11, Sharp 10; Xu 12 rebs; Rotunno 5 assts) at Geelong Arena.