By Tom Pilcher

LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic champions Norway defended their crown by beating debutants Montenegro 26-23 to the women's handball gold medal on Saturday.

World, European and now twice Olympic champions Norway built a three-goal advantage at half-time and kept the pressure on the underdogs with their strong defense and probing attack.

Linn Sulland top-scored for the Scandinavians with 10 goals before they collapsed on the court with tears in their eyes while their beaten opponents also celebrated a first Games medal for the tiny Balkan nation.

Montenegro became independent in 2006 when it split from a state union with Serbia and has a population under 700,000.

They battled hard to equalize midway through the second period but their indiscipline did not help. Milena Knezevic was shown a red card for three two-minute suspensions while other team mates were sin-binned.

Tournament top-scorer Katarina Bulatovic joint top-scored in the match with 10 goals for Montenegro.

Norway's win continued Scandinavian dominance of the women's Olympic tournament, Denmark having won three straight titles from 1996.

(Editing by Alison Williams)