Warren County's Warthen commits to play at Arizona

Warren County girls basketball player Candice Warthen has made a verbal commitment to play at Arizona, Screaming Devils coach Jaamal Rhodes said.

Warthen, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, averaged 25.6 points and eight rebounds per game last year for Warren County. She might be an even better defensive player; she averaged nearly six steals a contest last season. A standout all-around athlete, she won the long jump (18 feet, 62 inches), was fifth in the high jump (5-0 feet) and sixth in the 100 meters (12.61 seconds) this spring at the Class A state track meet.

Warthen can sign a binding letter-of-intent as soon as November.

Arizona's connection to Georgia comes through head coach Niya Butts , who went to high school in Americus. Butts was a standout player at Tennessee (class of 2000) and was named the Wildcats' coach in April 2008. Arizona went 12-19 last season and does not have a player from Georgia on its roster.

EARLY STARTS: High school football season will be exactly a month away as of Tuesday's date.

Strom Thurmond (at Chapin) and Barnwell (at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler) will play on Friday, Aug. 21 during South Carolina's Week 0. Two other teams will also open that day.

Aiken plays host to Berkmar, a Lilburn, Ga., team it defeated 28-20 last season.

Grovetown, meanwhile, will travel to Buford, the Class AA school that has won 30 consecutive games in one of the most interesting matchups of the opening week.

Later in the year, on a Saturday night, Grovetown will play at Class AAAAA Northside-Warner Robbins, which has won two state titles since 2006.

HANDBOOK RELEASED: The Georgia High School Association released its handbook for the upcoming school year this week. Among the notables of the 184 pages:

- Football playoffs begin Nov. 13 and end Dec. 11-12 at the Georgia Dome. Class AA and AAAA will play state championships that Friday, followed by Class A, AAA and AAAAA on Saturday.

- Region 3-AAAA will be matched up with Region 2-AAAA in the first round of the football playoffs. That could be a tougher draw than last year, when Region 4-AAAA swept the four area teams in the first round. Region 2-AAAA includes Statesboro, Brunswick and Ware County.

- The state volleyball playoffs have the postseason feel of just about every other team sport. Eight teams will advance to the state tournament, instead of four. Also new this year: the first two rounds will be played at the higher-seeded team instead of a neutral-site format.

Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.