Adelaide Crows beat Collingwood to reach AFL Women's grand final against Brisbane Lions
Updated
The Adelaide Crows will play the Brisbane Lions in the inaugural AFL Women's grand final next week after defeating Collingwood by 24 points in hot conditions at Olympic Park on Sunday.
The Crows' grand final hopes were looking grim when they were held scoreless in the third quarter as their 13-point halftime lead turned into a seven-point deficit at three-quarter time.
Adelaide's hearts were in their mouths when Collingwood's Jess Cameron lined up for goal early in the final quarter.
But instead of giving the Pies a 13-point lead, she missed a sitter and the Crows grabbed their second life with both hands as they piled on the last five goals of the game to run out 10.10 (70) to 7.4 (46) winners.
Following Melbourne's huge win over Fremantle on Saturday, the Crows had to beat the Magpies to qualify for the premiership decider after spending most of the season in the top two, including three weeks on top of the ladder.
If the Crows lost, Melbourne would have played the Lions next week. The grand final is expected to be staged at the Gabba.
Sarah Perkins and Erin Phillips played pivotal roles in the Crows' come-from-behind victory. Perkins racked up 15 disposals, five marks and four goals while Phillips collected 21 touches and three goals.
Ebony Marinoff was also a valuable contributor for Adelaide with 17 touches and 12 tackles while Stevie-Lee Thompson also had an influence with 13 possessions.
Stephanie Chiocci (five tackles) and Sarah D'Arcy each had 13 disposals for Collingwood while Moana Hope and Cameron were effective up forward with two goals apiece.
The Crows' domination of disposals (171-139), contested possessions (104-72) and inside-50s (33-18) was also a key factor in the result.
Adelaide's win came at a cost though with Courtney Cramey suffering a concussion in the first quarter and taking no further part in the game. She is in a race against time to be fit for the grand final.
The Lions themselves had one match to play, against a Carlton team with nothing but pride to play for.
A fluctuating match ended in a draw thanks to a late goal from Carlton's Bianca Jakobsson, keeping Brisbane's unbeaten streak alive but ending its winning one.
AAP/ABC
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, australia
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