By Oluwashina Okeleji BBC Sport, Warri

Nkwocha hit a superb hat-trick

Defending champions Nigeria and Ghana booked their places in Saturday's final of the African Women's Championship (AWC).

In Tuesday's games hosts Nigeria thrashed Cameroon 5-0 while Ghana needed a last minute penalty to edge out South Africa 1-0.

Ghana needed a last minute penalty from Florence Okoe to secure their narrow victory over South Africa, after Anita Amankwa was brought down in the area.

The Black Queens are the only team ever to have beaten Nigeria in an AWC game, that was at the 2002 event.

The foundation for another fine display for the seemingly invincible Super Falcons was a hat-trick from reigning African Footballer of the Year Perpetua Nkwocha.

Cynthia Uwak and Effiomwan Ekpo were also on target as the Indomitable Lionesses failed miserably to stop the Nigerian juggernaut.

To add insult to injury, Zouga Francine was given a straight red card after 68 minutes when she forgot about the football and turned her attentions to Ifeanyi Chijiene.

She launched an attack so vicious that Chijiene lay motionless for more than ten minutes as the Nigerian medics struggled to revive her.

The incident raised temperatures on the terraces and the crowd threw plastic bottles at Caf and local officials, accusing them of failing to provide adequate medical cover.

"We lost to a great side, we had a game plan but when our centre defender was injured everything fell apart," a chastised Cameroon assistant coach, Enow Ngacha, told BBC Sport.

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Nigeria's reward for making it to Sunday's final is automatic qualification for next year's World Cup in China.

"We still have a lot of work to do before the World Cup, the final on Saturday is a big challenge for us," Nigeria coach Effiom Ntiero told BBC Sport on Tuesday.