Carrie Underwood gives 'Champion' showcase to Indiana Fever player Erica McCall

Carrie Underwood needed someone to pick up Ludacris' guest verse in 2018 song "The Champion" Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and Indiana Fever player Erica McCall answered the bell.

McCall, a third-year forward on the WNBA team, joined Underwood onstage during the local stop of the seven-time Grammy Award winner's "Cry Pretty" tour.

"I just finished performing with the one and only Carrie Underwood," McCall said in a post-performance video posted on the Fever's Twitter profile. "Had the time of my life. It was absolutely amazing, a rush of adrenaline. I gotta get up there and do it again. Thank you all. Thank you, Carrie. It was a great opportunity."

Nearly two minutes of "The Champion" can been viewed on the arena's Twitter profile, showing McCall rap the letters of "Champion" in the style Ludacris contributed to the original studio recording:

"The C is for the courage I possess through the trauma
H is for the hurt, but it’s all for the honor
A is for my attitude, working through the patience
Money comes and goes, so the M is for motivation
Gotta stay consistent, the P is to persevere
The I is for integrity, innovative career
The O is optimistic, open and never shut
And the N is necessary 'cause I’m never givin’ up"

Underwood praised McCall's performance in an Instagram post: "Indianapolis was incredible tonight! I had an especially great time singing #TheChampion with Erica McCall. ... She crushed it! Special thanks to Erica and her teammates for the support! You ladies are true inspirations and I will forever be in your corner!"

NBC used the Underwood-Ludacris collaboration as the opening theme of the network's Super Bowl LII telecast, and the song appeared as a bonus track on Underwood's "Cry Pretty" album.

Where did McCall, known by the nickname "Bird," cultivate her hip-hop skills?

An internet search leads to "StanU," a song McCall made for a class project when she was a sophomore at Standford University.

"No. 24 and I ain't got time to sleep," she raps within the song. "Only two things, and that's rhyme and eat, 'cause I'm starving for success and to only be the best."

While McCall wore No. 24 at Stanford, she wears No. 22 as a member of the Fever —a squad that has a 4-4 record through eight games this season.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.