Nicole Toomey (Victoria) gained the point on the extra end to beat Crawford 14-13 on the first post-section day of the fours at the New Zealand bowls championships.
‘‘I'm a bit disappointed,'' Crawford told the Otago Daily Times from Christchurch.
‘‘But I'm thrilled to get that far. It was an exciting game.''
Crawford (St Clair) was joined in the composite team by her sister Mary Ross and Jenny Lonie, from the Queensland Sunshine Coast, and Jan Shirley, of Christchurch.
They trailed by three shots after 16 of the 18 ends but drew level by scoring three shots on the last two ends.
It was a tight game and Toomey took the lead for the first time on the 15th end.
Crawford, who won the singles title at the world disabled bowls championships in Wellington 12 months ago, came back in a typically determined fashion to force the extra end.
Andy McLean (North East Valley) was the only Otago bowler to advance to the men's quarterfinals.
He is playing second in a team that includes Black Jacks Blake Signal and skip Andrew Kelly, and Cameron Nairne (New Plymouth).
They had a comfortable second-round 20-7 win against Kevin Diggs (Halswell).
Kelly, who started his bowls while a pupil at Waitaki Boys' High School, skipped the winning fours team in 2012 and 2014.
Last year's champions, Danny O'Connor, Lance Tasker, Richard Girvan and former world champion Peter Belliss, reached the quarterfinals with a tight 15-13 win against Brian Chapman (Dunsandel).
The Central Otago women's four of Christine Buchanan, Debra Lloyd, Linley O'Callaghan and Margaret O'Connor was beaten in the quarterfinals by Mandy Boyd's strong composite team.
The entire team was in the pairs final on Monday. The other members were Angela Boyd and the mother-and-daughter combination of Leigh and Kirstin Griffin.
Boyd was on top from the start and led 6-1 after four ends, 17-6 after 10 and 20-12 after 13 of the 18 ends.
The star-studded Nelson-based composite team of Marie Watson, Sharyn Renshaw (Australia) and 2008 World Bowls pairs champions Val Smith and Joe Edwards comfortably reached the semifinals.
In the quarterfinals they outclassed the 2007 national champions, Theresa Woodham, Pam Phair, Lois Grey and Bev Morel, 20-9.
Edwards led 9-6 after nine ends but then drew away to lead 13-6 after 11 ends.
Watson, who last won the fours title 21 years ago in 1995, was an accurate lead and teamed with Renshaw to put early bowls on the head.
Alison Rennie's composite team of Catherine Bien, Sue Curran and Jill Fraser took the other semifinal spot with a 20-13 win over Tanya Wheeler.
The composite team of Wheeler, Dale Rayner, Rebecca Jelley and Ashleigh Jeffcoat finished runner-up in the event in Auckland last year.
Jelley, a former member of the North East Valley club in Dunedin, has returned to her home town of Auckland.
Former Dunedin bowler Paddy Stewart (Kaiapoi) reached the quarterfinals when Tony Andrew's composite four beat Brian Ware (Canterbury) 21-12.
A Southern team skipped by Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Gore) was beaten in the second round of post-section play by Brendon Gibson 24-14. The other members of the team were Dunedin's Elliot and Oliver Mason and BJ Carroll (Lumsden).
Otago bowlers to lose in the first post-section round were Regan Larkin and Jonty Horwell (Kaikorai) and Terry and Jim Scott (North East Valley).
High-profile casualties from section play included all the singles finalists: Shannon McIlroy (Stoke), Australia-based Paul Girdler, Kelsey Cottrell (Australia) and Tayla Bruce (Burnside).
Gary Lawson has to wait another year to get his elusive 11th national championship title after his star-studded team of Black Jacks Tony Grantham, Mike Kernaghan and McIlroy lost in section play to Joseph van der Pennen (Papanui) 19-18.
