LEWISTON — Bates College has appointed Alison Montgomery, assistant coach at the U.S. Naval Academy and former assistant at Bowdoin College, to become the 12th head coach in the history of its varsity women’s basketball program, Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh announced recently.

A Maine native and graduate of Bangor High School and Bowdoin College, she will begin the position on July 1.

Montgomery, formerly Alison Smith, graduated from Bowdoin in 2005 and has spent the past seven years as an assistant coach, the first three at Bowdoin under head coach Adrienne Shibles and the past four at the Naval Academy under Stefanie Pemper. This is her first head coaching position.

After receiving her master’s degree in social work from Boston College in 2007, Montgomery began her coaching career as an assistant for Shibles, a 1991 Bates graduate, at Bowdoin. There she helped lead the Polar Bears to a 70-18 record over three years, including NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances in both 2010 and 2011.

Montgomery then joined Pemper, her former head coach at Bowdoin, as an assistant with the Division I Midshipmen, beginning with the 2011-12 campaign. In her four seasons at Annapolis, Montgomery helped Navy to a cumulative 80- 48 record, a Patriot League regular season mark of 44-20, an 8-2 record in league tournament play and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Bangor native is one of three players in Bangor High School girls’ basketball history to score 1,000 career points.

Montgomery will be the team’s first new head coach since 1994, when Jim Murphy took over the program. Murphy retired in April after 21 seasons as one of the most successful coaches in Bates College’s history.