Arkansas women's basketball head coach Mike Neighbors announced Thursday that he will start freshman Talia Scott in Tuesday's season opener against Louisiana-Monroe along with senior guards Makayla Daniels and Samara Spencer) making their debuts.

Neighbors said Scott earned the right to start immediately due to her stellar performance in practice, including her defensive prowess.

"I called her summer league coach and said, 'I was wrong about your kid,'" Neighbors said, "and he said, 'Oh, no.'" He said, 'Oh, no.' What's wrong? Can't she score?' I said, 'Oh, no, no, no.' I said, 'Oh, no, no, no.' I just never realized what a great defensive player she is.

Scott is also a skilled scorer, and Nieves said she scored 38 points in 20 minutes of action against the Arkansas men's practice squad.

"Neighbors said, 'When that shot came, [it was] impressive."' Oh, that day finally came. We were playing the men's practice team, and she scored 38 points in 20 minutes. [The player on her defense] said, 'Coach, I can't stop her. I tried my best. I couldn't stop her."

Neighbors say Scott is learning from Daniels and Spencer, whose faith in her has helped her.

Daniels said, "For new freshmen, there's usually a small period of time where they stay away from people because they're not used to people moving quickly." "I really don't think she ever had a moment like that."

Neighbors are excited about the potential of Scott and the other two guards.

"You'd see them look at each other and [exhale]. It's like now you can play for each other," Nibbles said." It showed in our first practice against [the men's practice squad]. When they got over that, it was like a relief, 'OK, he's going to play with us.' He trusts us." What you see is the three of them on another level.

The Arkansas women's basketball team will open its season Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Louisiana-Monroe at Bud Walton Arena.