Latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Midlands

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The South Carolina women's basketball team is suddenly this college town's new darlings.

Nearly 100 fans came to see the team off Thursday as the Gamecocks headed to California to take on Stanford in the round of 16.

The crowd lining the way to the buses carrying the team to the airport wasn't too much smaller than the crowds that used to show up in the arena to watch the Gamecocks when coach Dawn Staley took over four years ago.

This South Carolina team has already achieved things few others have done, reaching the semifinals in the Southeastern Conference tournament and beating Tennessee for the first time since 1980.

Staley has never beaten Stanford, losing twice in the Final Four as a player and three times as a coach.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)