Nicole Evans was a third-Team All-American and First-Team NFCA All-Region after her best season in 2017. Also, in 2017, she was named the Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year winner and was the Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient from Illinois. Evans was a First-Team All-Big Ten pick as a senior after earning Second-Team all-conference honors as a junior in 2016. Evans posted an Illini career best .675 slugging percentage, was third in career doubles (50), is the career-leader in home runs (53) and RBI (176), and second in total bases (419). Evans is second in single-season home runs (19) and RBI (58), both coming during her senior season. She was Academic All-Big Ten her final three seasons and was First-Team Academic All-American in 2017. Evans was also named an Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete in 2014, 2016 and 2017. She was the Illinois Female Athlete of the Year after her senior season.